Background: As an undergraduate in electrical engineering,
Shawn was a very undisciplined student. His real
talent lay outside the classroom. Using whatever scraps of
electrical equipment he could scrounge, he was a master of
low-tech gadgeteering, constructing Rube-Goldbergesque
devices that were more entertaining than practical. Since
he wasn’t able to apply this skill in class, he employed it
in his second favorite hobby: practical jokes. Soon, he had
earned the animosity of the others in his dorm and even
some of his teachers.
Slowly, his activities slowly became more deviant. Circumventing
security in the administration building, climbing
campus buildings and even dabbling in minor pyrotechnics
became more interesting than the tame classroom approaches
to physics and mathematics. Breaking and entering became
easier once he found his way into the school’s storm tunnels.
By the time he had met other masters of “urban spelunking,”
he had developed a certain mastery in his craft. If only he
hadn’t stumbled into the wrong laboratory….
There were two mages in the University, each one
looking for a prospective student. The local Son of Ether
was reluctant to take on such a troublesome apprentice,
but Shawn’s second instructor was delighted. It is indeed
fortunate that the Scientist does not know about Shawn’s
extracurricular activities. Shawn has learned a few tricks
from a Nephandus, a barabbi of an Arabian society of mages
known as the Ahl-i-Batin. Though he knows all the proper
social protocols of the Sons’ society, he also has darker
insights into more frightening applications of Forces and
Correspondence.
The choice between his two Paths torments Shawn; he
avoids making a decision by mucking around in the dark —
alone, more often than not. Whatever political obligations
Shawn holds to the Chantry pale in comparison to his choice:
he supports Hype because the Renegade Faction values the
data he gathers in the tunnels. Sooner than Shawn would
prefer, the choice between light and darkness will be forced
upon him by circumstance.…
Image: Shawn literally dresses in the dark, so he doesn’t
care about his appearance. When you crawl in tunnels underground,
it’s hard to recognize bright green tennis shoes
under layers of muck or see if the stains on your blue jeans
match three-year-old T-shirts. The two constants in his
appearance are the bicycle lamp he wears mounted to his
baseball cap and the backpack he carries with the many
electrical devices he uses in his security systems and traps.
Roleplaying Hints: Soul-searching requires a great deal
of privacy. You’re torn between two choices: will you reject
the whisperings of the night, or meet your obligations as a
brilliant scientist? Though the companionship of others
draws you out occasionally, you retreat when anyone forces
you to consider the future.
Quote: No, no, no, I’m sure it’s around here somewhere.
I think I could find it more easily if I turned off this light….
