My versions of Chummer at home and at work seem not to be compatible, so no character sheet just yet, but I am looking to change planned character, assuming nobody else has decided to change to a mage (if they have I'll happily play Forty). Character sheet later today or tomorrow, but here is the background on Alf:
Alf: human magician (Metatype E, Attributes A, Magic B, Skills C, Resources D (some chance yet that I'll swap metatype and resources). Sioux tradition.
Background (because I like doing backgrounds -- I know a lot of ShadowRunners prefer to pretend they have no past, but for me it helps when nailing down the character creation choices)
Nathan was that scrawny, smart, energetic, annoying kid that might as well had a “loser, stay away!” sign hanging on his back. All the same, he dreamed of being a hero, like the Wildcats who protect the Sioux territories. When he showed signs of having magic it was like a dream come true, he’d become a rocking combat mage who blasted enemies off the battlefield!
Unfortunately for him most of what he was told was “Don’t try magic without supervision!” and “Of course you aren’t allowed to learn to cast fireballs at your age.” With brains and magic he knew he was superior to the other kids in Boise, which helped ensure he was even more unpopular as a teenager than as a kid. His social anxiety intensified so that he mostly just withdrew into himself instead of trying to have friends. But it didn’t matter, because when he was 18 he could sign up with the Sioux Defense Forces and they would be so happy that someone with his gifts was joining them instead of a corp, and they’d teach him combat magic and let him be the hero he knew he could be.
He did make it through basic training, on the third try. He got an exemption from the close combat drills due to his magic, and they found him a sergeant who didn’t yell so much, so long as things were done right -- Nathan made very sure to do things as right as he could! Then he was finally ready for military-magic studies … except they slotted him to be in the medical corps, saying that it best fit his abilities, temperament, and abilities.
Nathan wasn’t happy, but he buckled down to be the best combat medic he could be, on the theory that once he proved his coolness under fire, other opportunities would show up. To show his ambitions he tried to get his comrades to call him “Alpha” but they countered with “Alfalfa” which was shortened to “Alf” after a while. It turned out that the Sioux Self-Defense Force honestly appreciated magical healers and saw no need for people to throw fireballs on the battlefield when they had perfectly good artillery, and at a slightly built 5’6” and still apt to freeze in social situations or when in close combat he certainly wasn’t what the Wildcats were looking for in terms of special forces. So in the medical corps he stayed.
“Alf” served ten years before leaving, by which time he was a much more perceptive, disciplined, man. A man who didn’t feel a need for glory, but who still felt driven to prove that he could be useful in dangerous situations – well, as long as dangerous situation wasn’t social, and didn’t require him to wrestle anyone, because he still struggled with those. But he had magic, he didn’t need that sort of stuff! So he used his saving to gear up, and got ready to show the shadows the might of Alf!
