General Ralph “Teach” Rivers (Conductor), (Chieftain) or (Canal)

Weight: 155

Apparent Age: 65

Archetype: Hermetic Magi: Circle: 15 <Highly outdated he is a physical mage of unknown absurd power>

Preferred Weapon: Colt Manhunter <Out Dated He uses a Viking Sword and Axe>

Runner Song:   Old Song

The song of the Chieftain <You here this, you are already dead and don’t know it>

 Bio: The Conductor is a magi that has recently entered the dangerous world of the shadows by happenstance, this man was once a educator and lived a peaceful life within the suburbs of Seattle. He was thrust into the world that he tried his best to avoid during the war for Seattle, this man and his family where hunkering down and trying to do there best to survive the night. With the air battle going on over head, wreaks of the various crafts where falling out of the sky and where they landed was anybodies guess. He watched a few of his neighbours homes fall victim to the casualties of a war they wanted no part of or new anything about. This man moved his family to there basement and tried to keep them safe from the falling debris with his barrier spells.

        Though eventually the ground shook to the foundation and the distracted the Conductor enough as he turned to see if his wife was all right and he lost focus on one of the many spells he was sustaining allowing the debris to breach through the barriers and create a snowball affect as they where being buried alive by the wreckage that was once their home and not to mention the shell of the craft that had fallen out of the sky directly onto the house. One by one his spells failed and eventually he was rendered unconscious by the injuries he received.

         When the Conductor awoke he was in extreme pain and his right arm and leg had been crushed by the wreckage, he had no idea how long he was unconscious all he knew was that he could no longer feel his crushed limbs and his death was certain if he wasn’t rescued. He was also worried for the safety of his family, though he already figured the outcome was grim seeing all he could see was the twisted metal, wood and concrete of his once home all around him. He was trained in emergency medical treatment being a volunteer first responder and fire-fighter, this also allowed him to understand that even if he was rescued he would surly die from blood poisoning from the injury and he would have to do figure away to remove his limbs and then find away out of the tomb he was in.

         The Conductor did a quick look around and found a piece of torn and twisted metal that would serve as an impromptu knife more of a saw. This is where the Conductor mustered up all his courage and starting with his crushed arm, he began the brutal and painful process of sawing and chopping through flesh, muscle and bone using his remaining strength in his upper body to pull at the limb as he cut deep into the muscle. Blood was mixing with dirt, rust, and grim and the only sounds heard where the sickening sounds of flesh and muscles tearing and bone breaking. The Conductor was racked with pain and though he was determined to survive at any cost. With one final pull the last of his living flesh was torn away from the dead crushed limb and with a deep pop he had removed his arm, blood started flowing and the pain nearly rendered him unconscious again. He willed himself through and began to cast a healing spell on himself and he was lucky enough to save off the blood loss and finish casting saving his life. Though he was not out of the woods yet, his leg was still pinned under the weight of the house from his knee down and he knew he would have to remove it and then figure out how to escape the tomb with only a left arm and leg. He took a few deep breaths and began the chopping, sawing and pulling at his legs. He watched as living flesh was tearing away from the dead flesh and the blood again started to flow, he eventually ripped part of his leg free from the beams that had it pinned. Again he cast the healing spell and kept himself alive, though the pain was almost unbearable and he was almost over taken by shock.

       He again called out for his wife and still nothing, the Conductor felt sadness fill his heart but he knew there was no time to grieve and he was going to have to figure out how to escape. as luck would have it for the Conductor there was a gap in the debris and twisted metal of the craft. This gap created a small tunnel that he was able to crawl and pull himself up with. Though he as well needed the assistance of his magical abilities to slowly pull himself to the surface, as he crawled out of what was his home, he was covered in blood, dirt, grease and leaking fuel. He had wounds that dug deep into his body, face and his hands and feet where torn open and raw. His eyes stung with sweat and blood and the afternoon sun as he saw rescue crews vigilantly working in the neighbourhood he cried out as he slowly crawled his way. His voice was hoarse and his throat scratchy and dry, he was suffering from dehydration as his cries where more like whispers in the wind. He was lucky that a rescuer who was taking a break from the tiresome some work saw the Conductor and called for help. The Conductor eventually passed out as the rescuers got to him, he awoke later in the hospital, thankful to be alive, but now the reality of the situation hit him and his heart sunk once more as he had just lost everything and he was an innocent causality of the war.

       The problems for this poor old man where just about to get worse, as he was outfitted with cyber replacements magically healed and given a full dose of the advanced healing factors. He was then told that his insurance had denied the claim on the grounds that he was injured during what the called an “Act of Shadowrunning” this infuriated the Conductor but it was worse for that they also cancelled his home-owners policy and the life insurance policies that he held for himself and his wife under the “Shadowrunner Clause”. He was left with a massive hospital bill to pay and a vast majority of his life savings where lost to pay the hospital. He wasn’t even given a chance to appeal the insurance claim or file for assistance they ran his credit stick, saw there was enough to cover the balance and emptied the account. Afterwords they sent him on his merry way with a pocket full of pills and needing rehabilitation. The Conductor walked out into the cold dark night with only the clothing on his back, a few credits left from his life savings and the medication.

      He wandered the streets of the suburban zone for a few hours lost in depression and his thoughts, wondering how this could have happened to him. He was a good man, donated his money and time, went to church, raised three loving children and in a blink of an eye on his birthday as they gathered to celebrate his sixty-fifth birthday he would loose everything and everyone in a blink of an eye. He eventually wondered into a coffee shop sat down at the counter and ordered the dinner special and cup of hot coffee this was the first meal he would have eaten in days and as he waited for the meal to be served he just buried his face into his folded arms and began to break down. The people in the coffee shop just went on about business as normal ignoring this troubled old man, he was served his meal and they moved on to the next customer. The Conductor slowly ate his dinner plate and sipped his coffee, though for him his life was about to get a hole lost worse when he went to pay for his meal with the remaining credits he had left on his stick. He saw the waitress look at him suspiciously and told him she was having an issue with that reader and was going to use the one in the back, the Conductor just stared blindly at her and nodded his head.

    As he sat there waiting for her to return with his Stick, two younger Seattle Police Detectives entered the dinner. The Conductor thought nothing of it till the detectives approached him and told the poor old man to come with them. He looked up puzzled and asked why? They told him he was being arrested for fraud and trying to use the stick of a deceased citizen. The Conductor argued and resisted adamantly stating that he was alive and that was his stick, the police where not hearing it and they slammed his face into the counter, slapping screamer cuffs on that deactivated his new partial cyber limbs and dug into his flesh. He was also placed in the magi blinders and mouth lock, and placed under arrest and dragged out of the dinner, the Conductors dignity was lost as the sweat pants he was wearing had fallen off do to being a few sizes to big and he was pulled out of their in his underwear and sweat shirt and thrown into the back of the cruiser.

    Once he was brought back to the precinct he went through the humiliation of being booked and then dumped in an interrogation room, where the mouth lock was removed and the police grilled him for hours, he stuck to his guns and resisted there brutal interrogation methods and eventually asked for a lawyer since he saw how this was going to play out. While they waited for a public defender to arrive they threw him in a general holding cell, and left him with true criminals and the lower dregs of the city. As if things couldn’t get any worse for this old man he suffered a fate at the hands of the ganger’s in the cell and he was raped violently and repetitively throughout the night. The Conductor could hear the police chatting nearby and taking bets on how long it would be before he broke and confessed. By morning he was curled up in a ball in the corner of the cell, his dignity, shame and humility had been shattered. This man had been finally broken and the sad part being is he is an innocent victim, and being treated like a repeat offender. Once his lawyer arrived the police had him already cleaned up and waiting in the interrogation room, his lawyer was young man just out of law school and this was going to be his first case. The lawyer listened to the Conductors claims of abuse, rape and his innocence the public defender just shook his head and said well lets just take a deal and save you serious jail time. The Conductor was outraged at this point and demanded another lawyer, he was again told that this was all he got and to wait for the ADA to arrive. As luck would have it the ADA assigned to his case was Mr. Yardley and do to this, he had a ADA with a heart and was willing to listen to his plea.

      Mr. Yardley heard what the Conductor had to say and then looked at the evidence before him, he stopped the ranting Conductor and the yammering worthless public defender as he excused himself to make a few calls. The Conductor was furious by this point and just kept insulting the young man seated to his left as they waited for the ADA to return. After about thirty minutes Mr. Yardley returned to the room and told the Conductor they where dropping the charges as his identity was confirmed and it was his stick and they would be doing an internal investigation into the brutality, and rape complaints. He was free to go, the police came and removed the blinders and reactivated his cyber and escorted him out of the building after finishing some final paperwork. When he got outside again only in city sweats and nothing else, Mr. Yardley was waiting for him outside. He again apologised for the way he was treated and Mr. Yardley explained what had happened. The insurance company made a clerical error in your paperwork when they where cancelling your policies, they entered you as deceased do to war and this sent a signal through the matrix and rendered you zeroed.

He then explained that unfortunately their is nothing that can be done to correct this issue and he was sorry to say that he was going to have apply for a new citizenship documents and be treated as if he was a non citizen to get a new Serial Identification Number. This process could take months or longer, he then handed the Conductor a certified credit stick and sent him on his way.

     This stick has allowed this man to purchase some new clothing, get him a place to stay and as well given him some hope of survival. Though for the Conductor he is now forced to enter the world of being a runner to earn a living since he is sinless do to clerical error. He is also full of anger, rage and resentment so be very careful around this man. His skills as a magi are practically unknown and his combat ability is a complete mystery but I would never underestimate a man with nothing to loose. The war took everything from him and surviving the ordeal has destroyed the last shred of humanity he had left, the Conductor might be new to the streets but he is already a competent and experienced Magi with an unknown variable everything about his past is shrouded in mystery.

                                                                                                                                                                                           Page Written By: Shadow Writer