Howard Roseland (Paladin)

Weight: 173

Apparent Age: 45

Archetype: Decker (Shadow Beat Reporter)

Preferred Weapon: Colt Manhunter

Runner Song:

Bio: Captain Howard Roseland you might not have truly earned that rank in life, but my friend you earned it in death. Roseland’s life was always about pushing the boundaries and in search of the truth, he spent his lifetime seeking something he could never fully understand and do to this he fell victim to the false history and propaganda that was being sold as gospel. Roseland being a child of a turbulent age, one born out of the Ghost Dance, Nights of Blood, Civil War, Data Crash and the Birth of the Runners he was destined to  grow up confused and troubled. Also take in to consideration his family being Lone Star Officers and Journalists that were consumed by the great wheel of fate, and believed the propaganda thrown before them, it is a surprise Roseland even dared to walk the path he choose.

        Roseland worked as a Shadow Beat reporter tailing the fabled runners of his day and tell there tales with all the spin and hype of a master spin doctor. But that wasn’t enough for this journalist, he was certain their world was deeper, darker and more intriguing and boy was he ever correct. Roseland started his collaborations with other reporters and began to formulate a network of contacts and allies within the world of the shadows and what would emerge would become this man’s legacy “The Shadows of Seattle a Deckers Database“.

    While on this dangerous quest for the truth, he was blinded by his own ignorance to the truth and would fall victim to the propaganda. Even though he was warned many times by his contacts and friends that he was heading down a very dark and dangerous path, he allowed his personal feelings to influence his early writings and for this he was rewarded with file deletions, death threats and eventually landed him with a very large bounty placed on his head by the Deaths Hand for his attempts to report on their leader. None of this broke Roseland’s will and resolve to seek the truth and dig deeper into this world of killers for hire, the further he dug the more he was warned to walk away, give up and just go back to his normal routine for it’s safer.

      Roseland didn’t care about safety and he didn’t care if his reporting’s got him killed, and it wasn’t till he started to revel the Texas Elite that he sparked the ire of a legendary decker and assassin know as Hound. Once the Hound got wind of his work, the hunt was on and this is when for the first time Roseland started to see really what was going on just outside of his reach, and the bigger problem was the Hound. This man is unrelenting and took it very personally about what Roseland was doing and saying about him and his friends and allies, and Roseland was about to pay the greatest price for his work. His family and friends where put in direct harm by the Hound, as Roseland would stay on the move just a few steps ahead of his hunter his family and co-workers would not be so lucky and they would pay the ultimate price for there silence.

     Roseland had to stay on the move from the Hound and he had to leave behind everyone he loved and cared for, hoping to keep them safe sadly this was not the case as Hounds conscience was long sold and traded for cyberware and he left no one alive in his wake. As for Roseland things were about to get even worse for him as he was beginning to report on the Devil’s Rejects and he invoked the ire of legendary decker Tesla. Tesla didn’t go out to kill the young reporter, he just emptied his bank accounts and kept the Hound up to date on his movements through the city. The noose around Roseland’s neck was getting tighter and tighter and his time was running out. This man as well was learning more and more about what was actually going on as he dug deeper into the Freedom Patriots (Sons of Liberty) he even reached out to Colonial of the Patriots for sanctuary but before the busy commander could negotiate with Edward Davis of the SOTC (Sons of the True Confederacy) and Alexander of the Deaths Hand about recalling the Hound and removing the bounty, General James O’Brian reached out to the bewildered reporter and offered him sanctuary as a thank you for bringing the matrix address public.

      Roseland tired, bewildered and running out of rope and soon he would hang himself and fall victim to the Hound or someone worse, he accepted the Generals offer and was brought to the safety of Fort Lewis. He was given honorary rank and sent to work in their decker pool to keep reporting on his site, though for this truth seeker he might have been safe but little did he know what was about to unfold just over the horizon. He continued his work and still reaching deeper for the truth and as more patriots stories were discovered and more of the truth he was seeing Roseland was hit again with the sense of duty to his protectors and every journalists code of reporting the truth. This conflict grew deep within Roseland and he reported the truth thus angering his military employers and putting him in grievous danger of prison or even worse the death chamber.

    Just before the first shots where fired during the naval battle and as the city was getting word of Deputy Mayor Ronald Gibson’s assassination Roseland uncovered the set of files buried deep within the Generals private console that spoke of the city take over, the choke hold on the inner cities, the using martial law to his advantage, the execution of the Mayor as a traitor and full military take over of the Seattle with the help of the NAN (Native American Nations) using the Patriots as a scapegoat to get the President to declare Mayor Robert Hill as incompetent and under the uniformed articles of military justice in times of Martial Law the highest ranking Military Officer would be placed in command. He also found out the the General had funnelled billions of his personal funds as well as the countries funds into outfitting Fort Lewis with enough hardware to outfit a small army.

     Roseland knew that his benefactor was not the honourable man he once thought he was and was beginning to behave like a tyrannical dictator and he would never stand for this, and he new something had to be done, the people needed to know the truth. So Roseland risked his life once again and stole the information right from under the nose of Shifter, created a pass key and slipped away into the cold late afternoon air. As he emerged from the tunnels the guns of the rebellion where already pounding Fort Lewis, this was when Roseland decided that something more needed to be done. He for the first time in his life became a runner like those he reported on, he stole a pistol, murdered two young military police officers and stole there Jeep and rode out into the city.

     He was seeking anyone that he could reason with, and he knew Tesla and the Hound were out but he figured if he headed to the inner cities he would find a solider of the Patriots and he could share his information with them and hopefully get it to the leadership that way. this was when he learned the the matrix was down and he was able to tell by the access nodes and icons that many of the best deckers where battling the combined weight of the UCAS military deckers. He joined the fight and with his quick thinking and skill he fended off enough the enemy deckers long enough for the legends to restore the matrix at least partially. He as well saw with his still active military clearance that the Satellite Orbital Laser system was still active and in full operation, he could also hear the radio chatter from the sea battle and the inner city battle that they were getting cut to ribbons by this laser. He needed to act quickly to save these solider’s and sailor’s, Roseland through cation to the wind and started using his programming knowledge to through off there targeting systems. His quick thinking saved the lives of the Governor and many of his crewmen, he also gave the other deckers enough time to override the system and eventually overload the circuits taking the super weapon offline and rendering it inert.

  This is how Roseland meet the fabled decker Snoopy and eventually came icon to icon with Tesla and the Hound, even though he was fearful the two men who had been on his trail saw what the kid had done and was more the willing to let bygones be bygones at least for the time being. Roseland gave his information to Snoopy, Hound and Tesla and as well let them know he had reopened a shadow beat data probe inside the matrix and with the combined skills of Tesla he could help broadcast the information through the cities automated speaker systems and alert the people of the truth.

   Roseland was more then successful in his broadcasting, but he knew he was not out of the water yet, he needed to seek shelter since the military was probably after him by this point. He drove his Jeep directly into the heart of the battle through a hole made by the rejects and figured he would hide deep in the sewers till the fighting ceased, well sadly for Roseland he never made it that far. As he left the vehicle he was approached by a squad of soldiers wearing the blue helmet of NATO, he figured maybe his credentials could pass these unaware soldiers and he would be able to slip into the shadows. He was wrong as his image was already broadcast out as an enemy of the state and traitor, Roseland being paranoid after spending months on the run sensed danger was at hand, he dove for his pistol and opened fire killing two of the soldiers where they stood and wounding a third before being gunned down. Roseland took his last breath and went limp, the pistol still locked in his grip as his lives essence pooled around him slumped up against the Jeeps tire is where he died with his pistol still smoking.

   Roseland you walked into this world seeking the truth, and being blinded by the propaganda but you left this world a soldier and died fighting for a cause you didn’t fully understand. The information you realised to the public and to Snoopy is invaluable and will save countless lives, the work you did in the matrix allowed the brave soldiers to be victorious on this day. Now my friend rest and rejoin your family in the heavens, for you have earned your place and your name will be forever part of history.

               Page written by Snoopy