[8-bit]

Perhaps this is the wrong section, but it is related to the character creation process, so here we go. I've been wondering, what is the point of the SINner quality; specifically, the Corporate Limited and the Corporate Born? I mean, I like the idea of being ex-corp sometimes, but as someone once pointed out to me in my Decker thread:

Having a corporate SIN generally means you still work for (or at least you haven't been fired from) the corp.  I can't imagine Ares kept you on after you bailed on your coworkers.  They would probably assign you a criminal SIN at that point.  I can't see you paying taxes to Ares after all that went down.

He has a point, I wouldn't exactly be paying taxes to a corp after I've failed them. However, he says they would issue a Criminal SIN. I don't want a criminal SIN in 99% of cases, I want a backstory that I used to be part of a corporation. However, how could I really go about telling that sort of backstory and still justify having a legitimate Corporate SIN? I mean, working the shadows seems to imply to me that I'm not working for my corp, as I have no idea where Mr./Mrs. Johnson hails from or works for.

I only ask this not because I want the karma, I can always rearrange negative qualities for more karma, but rather, for story reasons, how can I justify a Corporate SIN of any sort? As a new Shadowrun player, I am a bit lost on this, so I would appreciate it if anyone can help me understand.

[Emperors Grace]

Don't think of it as taxes, think of it as bribes, etc...

Say the corp let you go for subpar performance (or you bought off the team that the corp sent to end you) and your "friend" in security doesn't report that your SIN was never deactivated.  Your money is still buying their silence

Or they let you go after you caused a bit too much collateral damage or accidentally destroyed an asset (like your supervisor's car, valuable unobtainium, etc...) - and your money is reparations to the corp

[Rythymhack]

I like to make truly "starting" characters. That is, they are professionals at what they do, they might just be new to the shadows (or if they grew up in the shadows they are not professional "shadowrunners" yet. Perhaps you still work for the corp and moonlight in your off time and part of the challenge is NOT getting caught and slapped with a criminal sin.

[8-bit]

Well, considering SINs get lost quite a bit (something unfortunate happens + there are a lot of SINless out there), there usually are a lot of SINs out there that aren't "used" per se, but are still active. So, the Ex-spider might need some work/thinking of it like a bribe like you said, but how about a situation like this? Let's say I'm a fairly long lived Elf who participated in the Aztlan vs. Amazonia War (which I don't have that great an understanding of, but it seems like an interesting backstory). I have Corporate Limited SIN, but it was assumed I was killed in action. Now, a giant corporation like Aztechknowledgy probably cannot monitor the millions upon millions of Corporate Limited SINs they have, so mine just happens to remain active. They eventually catch up with me and I bribe them to "forget" about my SIN being active. Would that work well in terms of mechanics/story balance-wise?

[emsquared]

Your parent(s) works/ed for the Corp, when you were born in the corp facility - guess what? - you got a SIN. You.ve never worked for them or even interacted with personnel, preferring to stay out of their buildings. But they still have that birth record, and some updates when you got your drivers license and occasional medical.

[Lusis]

Here's how I handle it for one of my characters.

Her back story: http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=17483.msg313398#msg313398

Basically, with her being a loose cannon the corp can:

1. try to reposses the augmentations, which is a loss of investment.  Plus it may upset her father; who is someone too valuable right now to piss off;

2. Some kind of corporate prison. Again a loss of investment. 

3. Cut her loose completely; again a net loss.

4. Give her a leash, send her out to wreck havoc with rivals on a semi-freelance basis; with the understanding that any action taken against Aztechnology will have serious repercussions.  Oh, and "if one of us calls, you better answer the phone and do what we tell you."

That said, she may find that Aztechnology planted some " "insurance" in one of those limbs, or may call at an inopportune time. Also, my GMs may decide that she must inform corp contacts of events even though it may be counter to the interests of the team, or risk consequences. 

This is just one track you can take. You could decide that your toon is a corporate plant, or on a special mission; or, just  a moonlighting employee, or a family member of an employee. Just to name a few possibilities.


 

[8-bit]

Funnily enough Lusis, I had a very similar idea, but slightly different. It is a super cybered up Elf (I'm talking .12 essence remaining), so I can see if Aztechknowledgy had some insurance stuff installed into the cyberware they gave me. I'm actually thinking of making it so that after the war, they didn't really know what to do with my character, so they chose option number 4; gave him a leash to go out and do stuff. Makes for some great roleplaying and I can base a few contacts inside of Aztechknowledgy itself. Thanks for the idea!

Thanks everyone for helping clarify this issue. I wasn't too sure how it worked, but now I think I understand.

[Lusis]

Glad I could help! Also, don't forget the human element. In Luz's case, you can reasonably assume that her father has friends in the corp that will cause issues if someone in upper-management decides to be heavy-handed. In your character's case, they might have too much respect for what the elf did in the war to just throw him away. Corps are faceless entities, but they are still made up of people, each with their own values, attitudes and beliefs. Even if they are influenced by a corporate upbringing, in reality most people still identify with their communities and protect their own.

[8-bit]

I'll post this guy up in a new thread soon, but he's also kind of a lone wolf guy. He was more into sniping and guerrilla tactics, and he doesn't get along well with others. Unlike yours, he doesn't think the flesh is weak, but he is pretty seriously biased against all magic users. He sees them as pathetically arrogant in how "strong" their magic is, when he has killed many throughout the war without them even seeing him coming, especially those so-called "adepts" who can make themselves fast without technology. He can match their speed without the need for magic, all he needs is the technology he knows and that is as much a part of his being as their magic is to theirs.

I would assume this doesn't go over well with Aztechknowledgy who are very invested in their magical strength, especially the, you know, blood... I mean, normal magic. Sure, my guy has a few friends, even a few higher up friends, but that's probably the only thing that kept him from being killed outright or from being given a Criminal SIN along with a bounty on his head. Not that my guy isn't entirely against Aztechknowledgy, he has no problems working for them, but working with their culture and such, not so much. He was raised in the time when Aztlan needed some cannon fodder (or rather just a ton of people to form an army), so they taught him what they could, cybered him up and tossed him out there. He exceeded all expectations, but mostly by being a hardcore killer and not exactly friendly. By the way, I don't happen to have many books (Just SR5, Run & Gun, and Street Grimoire), anybody have any books to recommend for more backstory about the war between Aztlan and Amazonia? Or, at the very least, a date for when the war took place?

[Lusis]

War! is the book for everything about that, umm....war.

As for Aztechnology itself, I recommend Corporate Guide.