Joey Vanderbilt (Fraggle)

 Membership: Freelance

Race: Orc

Height: 6’9

Weight: 290

Apparent Age: 30

Archetype: Physical Adept: Circle Unknown

Preferred Weapon: Katana

Runner Song:

Bio: Well it is only about time that the one that stands guard outside the Lantern be reviled as more than just a bouncer, Joey also known as Fraggle has been pulling double duty for quite sometime. Joey emerged on the scene as the bouncer for the Lantern back in 2055 and hasn’t left his post ever since, many other bouncers have come and gone while Joey remains firmly planted at the door each and every night; When he has the time to run the shadows is unknown since the Lantern is never officially closes though like the stool warmer Whisper that is seen nightly within the bar warming a stool and nursing a drink, it can be assumed that Joey is able to schedule his time properly and being on a first name basis with the Miller brothers Fraggle is able to manage both aspects of his career.

Joey classifies as a next generation runner and was quite active during the war within the shadows, for Joey it was a heartbreaking period as he watched many of his friends turn on each other. While the streets turned into a war zone and the blood of runners flowed into the gutters, Joey would side with his friends and allies within next generation and thus furthering the divide between the generations and creating the stigma that would cloak the Jackal’s Lantern for generations to come.

As the war progressed and the body count would steadily climb, Joey would never directly involve himself within the bloodshed, but this runner has made damn certain that the Lantern stay free of the troublesome folk and indirectly saving countless lives of the younger new breeders that would have meet an uncertain fate within the Lantern’s walls.

For Joey the war was troubling and would eat at his conscious, night after night he would turn away the posers and wannabes while letting the veterans and legends pass through into the hallowed halls of the Jackal’s Lantern, he knew that the lives of those he would keep on the outside would only be spared for just a few hours; also Joey would open the doors to many of the new breed runners that where looking for employment never knowing if he was going to have to contact a ripper doc by last call. The War of the Shadows was in full swing by the time Joey was considered a fixture of the Lantern and as the days progressed and the seasons past by more and more lives would be lost during the bloody civil war.

Joey choose to side with his friends within the next generation being a close friend and trainer of the legend known as Exodus whose death was the catalyst for the entirety of the war. For Joey the death of his friend was personal, but he knew he would have his revenge and he didn’t desire to spill innocent blood only the blood of the guilty. Now this runner is not free of having his hands stained with blood and as the years progress Joey will most likely spill countless more blood during his lifetime, though this is not something he takes lightly and it ways heavily upon him. For Joey the war within the shadows was more than just a battle for existence it was a battle for respect and fight for justice for a fallen comrade.

As the years progressed and with no end in sight Fraggle decided that he would focus further on the teachings of the elders and allow himself to remain behind the scenes as the winds progressed and he would keep a watchful eye out for signs of the guilty and his ears open to the ramblings of the folly of wannabes that all dreamed of becoming an over night sensation within the shadows. Joey would be the guard that the would be runners would have to pass and t would be on his judgement if they would gain passage into the Lantern, where they would either become a victim or welcomed member of the shadows. Joey understood that the bars owner Joe Miller was very picky about who should gain entrance into the bar, as Mr. Miller didn’t want to watch the dreamers and impressionable youth lured to his establishment by the likes of television and movies that glorified the shadows and those that lurked within them, he was trying to be the wise old grandparent that would keep these posers from being snuffed out; it was Joey’s job to be the gatekeeper and act as Joe’s enforcer and guardian of the young.

The war in the shadows would rage on for many years and the public’s lure into the shadows would increase to epic proportions during the 2060’s causing a great surge of young dreamers to walk away from their normal lives and dream big, they wanted to become like the legends they watched on television not knowing that you don’t become a veteran of the shadows overnight and even if you do make it big quickly they would forget or even ignore the teachings of Fable and Canyon and thus becoming a victim of the dangerous world of the shadows. Joey would eventually grow weary of the sudden increase of wannabes and dreamers and he would basically seal the doors to the lantern to all but those who would pass his test and would have enough credits to enter. Though Fraggle would also begin to act as a mentor to those that he deemed worthy and would assist these newbies in there dream of becoming veteran runners, never promising anything more than survival and even that he couldn’t guarantee one hundred percent.

Though anything was better than watching the hopefuls become a victim of the shadows and yet another statistic in the cities murder rate, though for Joey the murder of his friend was forefront in his mind and he would never forget that one of these new breeders had pulled the trigger and sparking the events that would forever change the course of the shadows. Fraggle would have a keen ear to the street while working with the new breeders and be able to gain entrance to locations that normally would be closed to someone of his generation. Seeing a majority of the new breed runners thought Joey was one of them, and not a member of the lost generation, Fraggle also being an Orc would allow him to stand out as unique and to the problem children Joey was a kindred spirit; even though he was secretly searching for evidence of Exodus’s murderer and those that were keeping the shadow war raging on.

Joey would spend many nights and eventually many years lurking within the shadows hiding as a new breeder gathering his evidence and searching for someone that he didn’t even know was still alive, he couldn’t let his friends murder go unpunished and as the years passed by with no solid leads Joey would grow frustrated. Being a street level runner and a Orc he didn’t have the same advantages as some of his fellow professional friends, he needed to use his street smarts, his gut and his legendary abilty to hear the whispers of the streets to further his investigation. Eventually Joey would find a lead that would send him towards a group of posers that had pulled the trigger on his friend and after many years of dedicated hunting and searching he would learn that he was already working with the murderers and had helped them become part of the shadows, this information made Joey sick to his stomach and he knew that his only course of action would be to shed his new breed skin and show these new comers just what street justice was like, though he also knew that by killing the guilty he would be furthering the war and throwing gasoline directly onto a already raging bonfire. Though for Fraggle it was something that needed to be done and justice needed to be served, so on a warm summers evening while the team partied the night away after yet another successful operation, Joey prepared his assault and would forever scare his soul and further the divide between the generations. He slipped into the shadows drawing his katana and placing his Mariners cap on he snuck into the teams hideout using the noise of the party to his advantage he begun his assault, the team of new breeders wouldn’t stand a chance against decades of martial experience as Fraggle would cut through flesh, bone and metal with ease sending the runners to an early grave. As he was bringing his blade down upon the last of the group his eyes lost in bloodlust and revenge, the young decker would scramble for his gun screaming towards Joey “Why Brother!’ all Joey responded with was justice must be served as he drove his swords blade deep into the neck of the decker severing his head and bringing an end to decades of searching and justice to his friend Exodus.

Once the threats where dealt with, Joey would begin to return to his senses and fully come to understand what he had done and the ramifications of his actions. Though he wasn’t done with his job and he needed to scour the computers information bank for any information that might answer the age old question of “Why?” so as his victims bleed out Joey sat down at the open monitor and began to dig through the banks of information and eventually would discover that Exodus’s murder was a hired hit by a man known as Legion and it was formulated that his murder would spark a war between the runners of the many generations thus thinning the herd and creating a separation of power. As he dug deeper into the files he would learn that Legion was employed by yet another unknown figure and these runners where nothing more than a patsy and expendable resource in the grand scheme of events. As Joey read the files rage filled his body and his mind would become clouded with anger as it dawned on him that he had been played as well, all the runners had been played and made a pawn of a higher authority in a war that was all part of the plan to weaken the shadows for generations to come.

Though for Fraggle his reading would be interrupted by the sirens of the police as he would spot the blinking panic button that had been activated by the decker, he quickly set the computer to download the important files as he gathered what supplies he could muster quickly. Joey then pulled out two thermite grenades placing them at strategical locations in the room, he waited as long as he could before grabbing the data chip at 98% and making haste out of the hide out. Using his remote detonation system as the police arrived on the scene the building was lite up like the Forth of July and he slipped away into the night, Joey hoped that no officers fell victim to the thermite explosion as he quickly made haste to his friend and father figure Joe Miller to pass the information about Legion over to him and hope that his data file wasn’t fully corrupted being yanked before completion.

Joey had the evidence that he had been seeking, he had dispersed justice to the guilty and now he had another target to remove, he as well had the evidence needed to bring an end to the war in the shadows. Though what he didn’t know was the founding fathers had returned to the scene to mop up the mess caused by the shadow war and they where going to further the agenda of the unknown employer of Legion. The shadow war was about to reach it’s climax and Joey would be helpless to stem the tides of battle, Seattle was about to undergo a metamorphosis as it once again would become Old Seattle and the bloody age would return as the founders flocked to the city in droves to enforce the teachings of Fable. The winds of change once again where howling and the city’s streets would become drenched in blood, Joey’s evidence would get into the hands of Joe Miller who would send it off to his friends and allies to be verified. But for Joey his soul had been forever scared and he knew that this time he would actually have to partake in the war, as the founders where coming for blood, the warnings were all there and even Joey could see the writing on the wall as the streets screamed with the return of the Wolf Pack, the Brothers Grimm and the Old Guard. The cities skyline forever changed by the Deaths Hand and new team of runners entering at a time of great conflict, Joey would once again prepare for needless bloodshed as he awaited the dispersion of the evidence he gathered.

Over the next few weeks the founders would begin to make short work of the next generation and the new breed would fall victim to the blades and bullets of the older runners. Even Joey would have to strike a fatal blow in defence of himself numerous times as the young runners would target him, and attempt to bring down the legend of the Jackal’s Lantern. His work as a bouncer would become harder as he needed to keep a vigilant eye out for anyone that wanted to bring him down, for Fraggle had become part of the war and it seemed that he was now one of these rookies direct targets. He would do his best to keep true to his original intentions of being the guardian of the dreamers but as the war intensified he would be forced to spill blood night after night, eventually the founders would find and corner the Mother Hen of the next generation known as Crazy Glue and in a brutal assault they would kill her within a hail of bullets before leaving the Lantern. Joey would blame himself for her death, seeing that he allowed them to enter the bar knowing that they where hunting members of her team. Though what actually happened was a rift was driven between friends and the Unknown Soldiers would blame the Wind Runners for Crazy’s murder and the shadow war would explode as the next generation would turn on each other thus bringing to end the friendships and alliances of their generation. The city would weep as runners of every generation where falling and the age of the Wind Runners, Unknown Soldiers and Ministry would end, the Cowboys from Hell and the Regulators would ride off into the sunset leaving Seattle as all hell would break loose. Joey would stand guard at the Lantern’s door throughout the battle knowing that he would be powerless to stop the chaos and just hope that his evidence would bring an end to the conflict.

Though as the dawn of the shadow war would climax, so would the invasion of the Deaths Hand would reach it’s peak as the bombs exploded throughout the city, buildings and landmarks crumbling to the ground many citizens would perish and the focus would once again be towards the defence of the city and their own existence as government forces would begin to set up shop within the city, the police would be empowered with martial law and enforced curfews; the newly elected mayor would focus on restoring law and order within Seattle and the runners would be his focus as the people where once again tired of their antics. In a single instant the shadow war wold come to an end and hail forth a new age, teams of old would merge and work together once again and new teams would emerge from the wreckage of the final days of the war. Joey would watch from his post as the streets would once again be at ease, the war within the shadows was over but the evidence Joey recovered would end up being far more valuable than anyone ever realised.

As the city would be hurled into two bloody conflicts after, and now facing the invasion of the British forces Joey now must stand in defence of his home, his country and his way of life yet again. This time he can’t choose to just stand by and play guardian and hunter of the guilty, he must take action against those that desire to destroy his home and remove his freedom and liberties. Fraggle has watched as the generations once divided and killing each other have now aligned and stand as one, he now proudly accepts his status and place in the grand design knowing that even his actions have helped bring the generations together. Joey like others of the lost generation now have found a place in the shadows as they prepare to fight a noble fight against the invading British forces.

This is a time when we need the runners of the shadows from all generations to act as our defenders and protectors, these warriors have been preparing for an engagement like this for decades and their skills will be invaluable to this nation as they take to the streets and battlefields offering their services to engage the enemy. Runners might not be front line soldiers but they are highly skilled in infiltration, espionage and assassinations these warriors can be an untapped resource that needs to be employed if we as a nation plan to rise victorious. Joey’s allegiances are well documented and he stands with the city and Patriots as he fought alongside them during the two battles for Seattle. He is a highly skilled adept of unknown power and refuses to be scanned and registered, his skills are unknown but his combat prowess is well documented as Fraggle has taken down many a threat with multiple different weapons and seeing that he is a former Mariner he has the resume to back up his street reputation. Fraggle has the street cred and he is well liked by those that frequent the Lantern and is considered a equal by the likes of the Miller brothers so if you see Fraggle on the street give him a salute and thank this runner and bouncer for keeping the streets safe for us as well keeping our sons and daughters safe as he turns them away from the Lantern and back to the straight and narrow.

Page Written By: Skippy