Chrome Symphony [OOC]

Duncan acquired his abilities some time after becoming a cyborg. He wasn't born with them.

As for what he's currently doing, he's looking for his next freelance job. Duncan's short on cash and looking to fund his next round of maintenance and maybe, if he's lucky, a few decent upgrades.

Duncan's done some work with the military and probably knows Atlas, since Duncan is so old. He would also be familiar with Renk's work, although I'm not sure if he's met him in person yet or not. Duncan is also interested in going off-planet, if for nothing else, to find some work. He's not particularly miserable on the planet otherwise.

Perhaps Duncan is the one who gave Renk his nickname; if SirAuron doesn't have a story for that, I'd gladly make something up if that's ok.

Vega, I would submit that it's fine if you come up with things to fill the gaps if you have particular ideas in regard to the story. If anyone has objections to that, please speak up.

I think I can work with most of that. Although I'd probably say that not everyone is chipped, or at least has IDs assigned to them, or something. If it's actually that effective of a surveillance state, it would be far too easy to clamp down on all crime, or otherwise really get oppression going on strong. Or, more than likely, there are a fair few ways to cheat the system.

As far as Shell is concerned, the cloned bits was merely something worth mentioning. No need to explain why she's a cyborg, I won't actually question it. Does she do anything in particular for her corp?

And as for that corp, we'll probably go with EMAcorp for it. They're one of the bigger players, particularly in cybernetics and biomedical fields. They also have quite a bit of aerospace clout, and manufacture a lot of aircraft, including a nice variety of fighters and other military materiel.

Another option would be Crest, which like most megacorps does a little of everything. They build their image on a mixture of being reliable and cutting-edge. Their products tend to be effective and durable, and they initially rose to prominence on a very capable bioware department.

Toha Heavy Industries would be a third. They focus primarily on large-scale manufacturing and construction, and even have a hand in space development, particularly in the building of colonies and similar large-scale structures. They also have an active division researching AI and make some of the better cyberdecks on the market.

Just about everything else checks out.

Shell works as a communications system testing agent. She works with other technicians to monitor breaks in the 'net, when they happen. I had the idea that she might approach Duncan with a work request when a large portion of the net suddenly fails for an unknown reason.

Vega7285, let me know if I didn't get to all of your questions. I think I forgot the part about how Renk got his nickname "Stranglehold".

I like Nitro's idea about Renk and Duncan working together in the past. I'll go with the idea that Renk and Duncan know each other and have been comrades while working on covert ops.

Renk got his nickname "Stranglehold" from Duncan and other people, both enlisted and freelancer mercenaries, because when he infiltrates, he sneaks up behind his opponents and puts them into a stranglehold until they pass out. Renk isn't a fan of killing and will avoid it whenever possible although he is willing to do it when no other reasonable option exists. He's kind of like Solid Snake from MGS - that was my general idea for him, anyway.

Renk isn't actively looking for work at the moment but he is open to jobs if Shell is looking for someone with sneaking skills in addition to Duncan's hacking skill.

That'll work. Duncan and Renk aren't team mates but have worked with each other extensively in the past. Duncan isn't military, though - he's not built for combat. He's strictly a freelance hacker these days. His security work is limited to monitoring and information security - not working as "muscle" in any capacity.