After lurking for a while I found out that the new Missions season is launching at Origins, and since I'm going I figured I'd put together a character I could use for it. I had an idea for a "gentleman mage" character that used a Charisma tradition that could also work as a face, and after thinking through a backstory for a while hit upon a solid concept that I liked. I'm not trying to squeeze every drop of optimization out of him, but I do want this character to be able to do his jobs (Primarily magic support with face as a strong secondary).
Personal
Name: James Recard
Alias: The Gentleman/ Gentleman Jim
Gender: Male
Age: 30
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Hair: Light brown
Eyes: Brown
Tradition: Black Magic
Priorities
Metatype: E
Attributes: B
Magic: Magician A
Skills: C
Resources: D
Attributes
BOD: 3/6
AGI: 3/6
REA: 3/6
STR: 2/6
WIL: 5/6
LOG: 2/6
INT: 4/6
CHA: 6/6
EDG: 3/7
ESS: 6
MAG: 6
INI: 7
Qualities
First Impression
Astral Chameleon
Spirit Affinity (Man)
Prejudiced (Bias, Non-Awakened) Note: I'm assuming non-Awakened is Common.
Code of Honor: Assassin's Creed
Distinctive Style (Louisiana Drawl) Note: Since this is set in Japan, I figured a thick CAS accent would count for this. Can change it if I'm wrong.
Active Skills
Spellcasting: 6
Summoning: 6
Blades (Rapier): 6
Assensing: 5
Etiquette: 3
Negotiation: 5
Disguise: 3
Perception: 3
Knowledge Skills
English N
Japanese: 3
Local smugglers: 2
Talismongers: 2
Tanaka-Sans: 2
Cult Activity: 1
Starting Spells
Stun Ball
Lightning Bolt
Enhanced Reflexes
Opium Den
Influence
Armor
Improved Invisibility
Control Thoughts
Levitation
Heal
Note: Advice on spell selection welcomed
Gear
Weapon: Horizon-Flynn Rapier
Armor: Actioneer Business Clothes
Renraku Sensei
Fake SIN (Zebediah Kilgrave) 4
Fake Magic Licence 4
Monocle
w/Smartlink
w/Image Link
AR Gloves
Micro Transciever
Subvocal Mic
Summoning Focus 2
Sustaining Focus 2
Middle Lifestyle (1 month)
Contacts
Talismonger (Aks-san) 2/2
Black Magician (Oshiro Reo) 1/3
Fence (Robert Bellamy) 3/3
Backstory
When magic returned to the world and UGE took hold, it quickly became apparent there would soon be more to racism than skin color. Such it went with the Recard family: a small smuggling organization based out of Bossier City. SINless to a man to keep the illegal business "in the family," the Recards also were shocked to find that most of the members of the family could use magic. Soon it became clear that just being white was no longer the mark of genetic superiority it was thought to be: thanks to the Amerindian Revolution the patriarchs of the Recard smuggling ring realized that having magic talent was the TRUE mark of genetic superiority and turned this to their advantage. Motivated primarily by greed and pride, the Recard magical tradition became indistinguishable from what today is known as the Black Magic tradition. This was the world Jimmy Recard was born into in 2046.
As a crime family that put emphasis on magical power above all else, there was no shortage of power plays and backstabbing. Jimmy's grandfather, Zacheriah Recard, however, would brook no overt action. He insisted members of his family be raised as "proper Southern ladies and gentlemen," so while competition was fierce, etiquette and civility stayed at the forefront of their lives. Jimmy proved to have a knack for both his magic talent and the Recard brand of realpolitik. He would have been a major player in the family business if his grandfather hadn't gotten married again. His new wife, Maryanne Devareux, proved to be more than a match for the Recard family. Despite being five years younger than Jimmy himself, she had the family convinced her mystic talent was marginal and her mental faculties less so. It came as a complete surprise when she managed to start a coup that divested the Recard family of their wealth and sent the survivors fleeing. Jimmy himself escaped to Neo-Tokyo with help from his CAS smuggling contacts and his friend: Robert Bellamy, another star in the Recard organization that had emigrated to Neo-Tokyo and set himself up as a reliable fence.
Jimmy started out confident, but it soon turned out his CAS taught social skills were of little help in Neo-Tokyo. It took him a long time to finally find his feet enough to be able to deal with the culture shock. With his resources dwindling, he could think of only one real way to make the money he needs to go back home and steal back what Maryanne stole from him. With the social rules changed, Jimmy "the Gentleman" Recard is left with only two choices: adapt or die.
