Eric Background

Basic Info

Name: Eric Black
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 230 lbs
Age: 28
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Eric Black: Character Sheet

History

Eric was born in a litter of 6 to an Orc mother in the slums of Oakland. As the only human in the family, Eric was the runt of a couple dozen children. Eric was singled out and picked on more than anyone else in the family, but his mother managed to make sure that he he got enough to eat and made it through each day intact. Despite his grueling family life, the outside world was worse. While his siblings picked on him and roughed him up, they never intended, and their mother never allowed them, to get out of control and do serious damage. There were plenty of street kids and gangers that had no problem beating him to a pulp, and so despite its chaos and violence, his home became a place of relative refuge. When Eric started school, Mothers of Metahumans took notice of him. While he was not there stereotypical case, they understood that he faced the same problems that the goblinized children of humans faced. A member of MoM would drop in every once in a while and talk to him or the family about this or that and make sure that he was doing alright.

Eric's family, despite their unfriendly attitude, was not all bad. Many of Eric's siblings and cousins looked out for their little brother, and as a result, he managed to avoid many of the dangers of growing up in the slums. Eric's countless relatives were members of every gang and knew every problem maker in the area, and they often stepped in on his behalf. Drug and BTL dealers mostly left him alone because of this protection and gangs had no interest because he was a wimpy human. Eric learned the valuable skills of keeping his head down, mouth shut, and eyes open.

As Eric entered puberty, MoM and his family expected him to goblinize, as most human born children of orcs do. Eric, however, showed no signs of becoming an orc. He did show signs of something stanger though. While Eric's mother could not understand the strange happenings that occured around her son, a member of MoM suspected he might be capable of controlling magic and convinced Eric's mom to let him get tested. MoM paid for the test and one of their workers took him to get tested. When the MoM worker's suspicians were confirmed, he was excited because it could be Eric's way out of the slums, but Eric was afraid it would be just another thing he was singled out for. When Eric's mother was told, she also worried for Eric, so they agreed to keep it a secret while they looked into some options for Eric.

About a month later the MoM worker returned with good news. Eric had a good chance of being accepted at The Academy, a private middle and high school for mages, and qualified for one of the scholoships established by Dunkelzahn's Will. Eric had to take some tests and be interviewed by both the school and an administrator of the loan, but everything pointed to Eric being a good candidate. When everything was finished, Eric only had a few weeks left before the new semester started at The Academy and his old life would be left behind. His mother didnt let the secret slip until the last minute and, as a result, Eric managed to avoid any repricusions before he left.

The Academy was nothing like Eric's life back home. The gated campus was on over 6000 acres of wooded land with rolling hills. The scholorship had paid for Eric's uniform and other clothes for him to wear, a comlink, glasses with an imagelink, AR Gloves, and other neccesities that he had never had. Dorms were two students to a room, and his roommate was another boy on scholorship. Eric was behind academically because of the poor schools he attended as a younger kid. He worked hard in both his magical and more mundane studies though and graduated in good standing.

Eric went home for his mother's birthdays and other major events and holidays, but things were strained between him and a lot of his family members. Eric was disliked because of many things that were out of his control. He was born a human. He had strange magical powers. Society had come and saved him, the human, while a whole society of orcs lived in filth and violence. It was the last one that did the most damage. Eric's relationship with his mother was more complicated. She had the same prejudeces as his other family members, but at the same time, she has happy her son was going to make something of himself. As Eric grew older, he began to understand the struggle his mother faced and was very thankful to her that her compassion overcame her ignorance.

Eric was successful enough at The Academy that his scholoship was approved to be transfered to undergraduate work. Between the prestige of The Academy and the money of his scholorship, Eric was lucky enough to be accepted to the University of Californa, Berkley, where he would study Magical Forensics. At Berkley, Eric learned that a desire to serve the public was not common amongst mages that had options for exciting, prestigious, and extemely lucrative careers. Most of his classmates became professors, corperate researchers, military officers, or shadowrunners. While Eric had no trouble making friends, none of them lasted longer than college.

After graduation, Eric accepted a job from Lone Star to work in Magical Forensics in San Francisco. The job paid well for police work, but poorly for a mage graduating from Berkley. Eric worked hard and often put in volentary overtime to get everything done right. The brass had a little bit of a hard time finding the right partner for him at first, but once the right person was found, they had an excellent pair of investigators working for them. Eric and his partner were critical in a number of high profile arrests over the few years that they worked together, which led to the dissolution of their team.

Eric and his partner's work earned the two some powerful enemies, and it wasn't long before some of them started to make attempts on their lives when it became known they couldnt be bought. After one particularly close call, the chief of police decided to transfer both of them to different assignments. Eric's partner was transfered to another jurisdiction under Lone Star's purview and Eric was set up with an interview with a J. P. Redman.

Contacts & Associates

• Duncan Ryder (Human Male, 36) (Lone Star Detective: Loyalty 5, Connection 3)

Duncan and Eric worked together to bring down a number of powerful mages working with various criminal organizations in San Francisco. Duncan was the face of the operation and did most of the talking and networking. Eric handled the magical elements since Duncan is a mundane. Most of what Eric knows about basic detective work, he learned from Duncan. The two of them have seen eachother through some really bad spots, and even though they no longer work together, they often get together for some drinks or to watch an Urban Brawl game.

• Satomi Yuzuki (Human Female, 26) (Talismonger: Loyalty 2, Connection 3)

Eric and Satomi met at Berkley while they were both undergrads. The two of them hit it off right away and would have dated, if fate had allowed it. The two of them became close friends and worked on many projects together, but things could never work out for their love lives. If one was single, the other was dating someone, or Satomi was doing her study abroad in Japan, or any number of minor details. While Eric was in graduate school, Satomi graduated and started working as a talismonger. Eric does most of his business through her shop, and she is always happy to see him. Unfortunatly for both of them, their unacknowledged feelings and the loss of the close friendship have made things a little awdward between them. Both would be open to a relationship, but neither will make the move.

• Bastien Aristide (Human Male, 58) (Lone Star District Captain: Loyalty 2, Connection 5)

Bastien was Eric's commanding officer when he was working for Lone Star. Bastien owes some of his professional success to the work that Eric and Duncan did under him. Eric and Duncan also owe much of their success (and the lives) to Bastien's honest support and pragmatic wisdom. Bastien is excellent at combining honest police work with corperate politics in a way that gets the best results one can hope for in the 2070s. Bastien and Eric were never close on a personal level, but both of them know that the other is trustworthy.

• Mutton (Ork Male, 25) (Gang Member: Loyalty 2, Connection 2)

Mutton is Eric's cousin and the only family member that still talks to him besides his mother. Mutton has a wisdom and compassion rarely found in 2070, let alone in Ork ghettos. He always kept on eye on his frail human cousin and was happy when Eric found a way out of the ghetto. Mutton keeps Eric informed about his family and what is going on in the old neighborhood. He also provides information to Eric when he had to follow a lead into these lawless parts of Lone Star territory. Mutton has always been good at keeping his head down and doesnt get into trouble in the patrolled parts of the San Francisco area. As a result, Eric has never had to use his influence to bail him out (which is probably good since it would have been quite a strain on their relationship.) Eric does, however, provide him with information on how to navigate the legal system, which he uses to help people back in the ghetto. Mutton has earned numerous favors because he can help navigate an old SINless woman through the medical system or help keep someone's son from getting busted after breaking the rules of his parole.

• Dr. Hideki Tonogawa (Human Male) (Nuclear Scientist: Loyalty 2, Connection 3)

Dr. Tonogawa is a nuclear scientist at Shiawase Atomics' Drakes Nuclear Power Station. He studied at UC Berkeley and was a student of Dr. Kefeng Yau, he was rescued from a kidnapping by F.A.T.E. in Session 1: The Missing Scientist. He owes the team members of F.A.T.E. a favor at Rating 5.

• Manami Coltrane (Human Female) (Shiawase CFS President: Loyalty 2, Connection 6)

Eric and Manami met at President Ellison's New Years Ball. Undercover as Vincent Black, Eric met Manami as Ana's date and ended up sleeping with her in order to recover a DNA sample from her. Eric went out with her again in order to help the team get access to her key card and hack into the Shiawase Arcology. Eric generally thinks that Coltrane is a contemptable person but can't help feeling some attraction to her. Eric is not capable of thinking about and dealing with these feelings, so he banishes them from his concious mind.