Miss Fury: Background

Like a typical teenager, Miss Fury can be a little flighty and prone to melodrama, though life on the streets has really whittled away a lot of that. She is a street kid, without a doubt, with no formal schooling and a lot of hard knocks.

She can be pretty sarcastic and cynical at times, yet still be out to have fun. She can be a little rough around the edges, but at the same time flirty, though she's had enough come-ons and gropings already that sometimes she'll just not want to put up with it.

Without much else to dwell on, she often seeks the pleasures that bring immediate gratification: pleasures of the flesh.

She is generally selfish in her needs and actions and likes to get her way. Where she doesn't she is quick to blame or rationalise.

Despite this hedonistic nature, she is also driven and fanatical about two things: Urban Brawl (the Detroit Nightmares in particular) and simsense (her favourite starlet is Porsche Schiffer, made famous in her role as Lace in the "Steel & Lace" action trilogy).

Name: Sydney Faraday
Nicknames: Miss Fury
Sex: Female
Birth Date: 24 August 2044
Birth Place: Newman's Hotel, Detroit, MI, UCAS
Father: Unknown
Mother: Emmanuelle Faraday, a.k.a. Lady M
Siblings: None known
Education: Did not attend formal schooling
Profession: Freelancer
Employer: Self-employed
Physical Description: 175 cm (5'9"), 60 kg (133 lbs.), long blonde hair, brown eyes, athletic build
Likes: Urban Brawl (especially the Detroit Nightmares), simsense (especially Porsche Schiffer), shopping, fresh fruit (especially kiwi), chocolate
Dislikes: Ares Predators (Urban Brawl team), Ares Macrotechnology, Elves, Nymara (simsense novastar)
Notes: She's really fast!

I have been playing on Shadowrun MUXes since Thankskgiving 1998 as Nadiya and Eve on Seattle and Lady M and D-Vine on Detroit. I have also desced and coded rooms and objects on Seattle, New York, and various other MU*.

My collection of sourcebooks include all the major 3rd Edition books: core rules, Magic in the Shadows, Man and Machine, and Cannon Companion. Sourcebooks from earlier editions include the 2nd Edition core rules, The Grimoire, Rigger 2, Virtual Realities 2.0, Corporate Shadowfiles, Fields of Fire, Neo-Anarchists Guide to Real Life, New Seattle, Shadowbeat, Shadowtech, as well as the adventure modules for Ivy & Chrome and Total Eclipse. I've also got about a half-dozen to a dozen of the Shadowrun novels.

Born SINless on the streets of Detroit, there was never really any need for a real or full birth name. Nonetheless, her mother -- real name Emmanuelle Faraday -- dubbed her Sydney Faraday when she first popped out, in memory of a dear friend. Though she was Sydney for awhile, the name was valid only while she was an infant. Once she had grown enough to move of her own accord, the rule of the streets prevailed and she was given a nickname, Furious.

The nickname came with a number of levels of meaning. At first, it had been a negative tag that her mother had put on her for she had a tendency to inspire such feelings in her. Where many children are quick on their hands and feet, making it hard for their parents to keep up, Furious was particularly fast, a trait that she would carry and accelerate into adolescence, lending her frenzied personality to the mix.

As a result of her upbringing and the negativity of her mother, she grew up to be an angry teen. Given her mother's common name on the street, Lady M, perhaps it wasn't such a surprise that her mother's colleagues in the Russian Mafia would label the pair Lady M and Miss Fury or Miss Furious. Though not done with pride, necessarily, she wears the name Miss Furious like a warning as much as an identifier, having no recollection of her real name or her mother's.

She was born in Detroit, MI, UCAS, to no particular hospital. She was delivered on 24 February 2044, by midwife, at her mothers squat in the low-income tenement, Newman's Hotel. Does the apartment number matter? It couldnt possibly. Besides, even Lady M couldnt remember which one it was, considering the amount of mobility she had, even in the early years of child-rearing.

Her only known direct family member is her mother with no siblings. The identity of her father is difficult to determine, as even her mother would not be able to identify which of her lovers could have been the sperm donor in that time of promiscuity. Interestingly enough, this fact would not change today if Miss Fury suddenly gained a younger sister for her mother is still as promiscuous today as she was then.

Her upbringing wasn't at all like the nurtured growth of a prized azalea, but more like the unrestrained proliferation of a weed. If nothing else, her mother could be called a hedonist and, consequently, Miss Fury's formative years were spent under the tutelage of a caretaker who would rather be out partying and bedding lovers. This laissez-faire attitude did much to foster resentment in the young woman and, typical of most psychological assessments of children and their role models, she would grow up to be just as undisciplined and pleasure-driven as the woman who spawned her.

Perhaps it is better to say that her "true" family is the greater family of the Russian Mafia, in an indirect way. Her mother was involved in the organization and, by association, generally hung out with the other members. Due to her personality and nature, often her associates would be in the lower ranks: thugs, hitmen, enforcers, and the like. Miss Fury grew up in this rough and tumble atmosphere with hormonal razorboys bandying about their machismo. With as much spunk as her mother, she would stand up to them like just another one of the boys, becoming a threat to them in her own way as she grew into adolescence. Where her mother's assets were based in the threat of magic, though, hers was based on something easier to understand for the thugs: her physique. Though never known to have had any cybertech modifications, she is nonetheless respected for her ability to "keep up with the boys."

In a sense, she was their little sister for a time, and then she grew into a big sister who could kick some of their hoops.

At seventeen, she is barely matured mentally, if not physically. She has had many trivial and insubstantial dalliances with boys and men that seem to play to mere whimsy. Nothing lasting has been explored, yet, and it isn't likely that it would any time soon as she discovers more about herself and others. To be frank, her promiscuity and lack of commitment to intimate relationships does not contribute to the sort of conditions that really make her attractive in a long term personal relationship.

On the other hand, she has a close circle of tightly-knit friends who are just as hot and trampy as she is. They're the sort of girls that demand attention when they invade a gathering with their flirty and wanton displays, quite often of the sort entirely inappropriate for a distinguished setting. They share clothing, make-up, gossip, gory and embarrassing details, and even the occasional lover.

However intimate, though, she has never engaged in sexual acts with another woman. This is not a religious or moral decision. It's merely a question of disinterest.

She apprenticed to the United Brotherhood of Shadow Professionals, Local 63, at the early age of 14 and has been training to be a shadowrunner ever since. At first, all of her time was spent collecting coffee for the card-carrying shadowrunners on their breaks, but with nearly three years under her belt and learning the nuances of wearing her pants low enough to show crack, they've finally let her pick up the muffins, too.

Just kidding. =)

She's been a street kid all her life. She never attended any kind of formal education, though she would hang around with the other thugs and toughs that were her mother's circle of friends in the Russian Mafia. What she has learned has been from the School of Hard Knocks (branches available in every major sprawl). As a consequence of the company that she kept, her education tended toward the criminal and non-academic. Without much desire to join the Family that took in her mother, she has pinned her hopes on sports. Like many before her in depressed economic situations, she has dreams, however lofty, of making it big as a multi-million nuyen Urban Brawler.

As a teenager, she doesn't have much use for religion or politics and generally doesn't care about either one. So long as the religious nuts do not try to push themselves on her, shes fine. In general, she believes that the world is godless and that the religious ones are sorely misguided, but she's not the kind to really push that view on anyone unless they decide to make an issue of her lack of faith in any particular deity.

As far as politics and government are concerned, it's all about her. If it doesn't affect her in a bad way (i.e.: it doesn't prevent her from doing whatever she wants), she doesn't care. Since she's SINless, most of the laws that make live miserable, like taxes, don't really apply to her.

Needless killing is abhorred by Miss Fury and even killing, in general, is to be avoided, unless there is a "good" reason. What defines a "good" reason is variable, though, depending on the desperation of the moment. This could vary between people who have assaulted her and deserving of revenge or self-defense to a necessary and unfortunate side effect of another task. She will not take jobs that are intentional wetwork, but won't shy away from jobs where there is the possibility of someone being killed. As far as innocents are concerned, she will do whatever she can to avoid injuring any of them, though it's questionable how much effort she would put in if her objectives are in serious jeopardy. Needless violence, such as torture and rape and even S&M, are not her style, though structured violence in the context of sport is perfectly legit. What happens where the lines blur between the two will depend on the circumstances.

Although she hasn't thought it out to this degree, what she really wants to be is rich and famous. She wants to live the luxuriant life where everyone caters to her whim. What that means in her mind right now as an adolescent without clearly defined goals is that shed like to be a novahot Urban Brawler, the one thing that she thinks she has a chance of breaking into to gain fame and fortune. Secretly, she also hopes for those lucrative endorsement deals and maybe the chance to sing or act, like many of the sport stars in the early half of the century, but first things first, get to the major leagues.

The big leagues are still pretty far away when you're just a nobody on the street. Shes pokes around a bit and asked, perhaps not the right people, about what it takes to become an Urban Brawler. Forsaking the incarceration route, she believes that the best way to do it is through putting in her dues in the arena brawl leagues. In order to do that, she must first pass muster for arena brawl and make a name for herself, and to do that, she has to have skills. She's fast and athletic, but she's hardly got all the combat skills that the average brawler has, so she's looking to increase her stock in that regard.

Her immediate short-term goal is to do runs, gain those skills, and make a name for herself. If it means joining a team to get the regular work and practice, then that's what it will be. The goal of becoming an Urban Brawler is pretty much an all-encompassing desire and whatever steps are needed to get there, she'll take it, even if the advice on which steps to take is misguided.

She runs the shadows because she wants to build up her skills well enough to rise through the ranks of arena brawl until she gets noticed by one of the big league teams. Since the game is all about combat, she figures the only way she can really get that kind of experience is to run with a team and practice, practice, practice. She could probably get just as much by being a tough for the Russian Mafia, but that's something her mother's been steering her away from, and quite frankly, she's just as happy not going that route.

Besides, the pay's a hell of a lot better than not doing anything.

She is strong-willed and driven, but she is also prone to sarcasm, cynicism, and bitterness. On those aspects of her life that she deems really important, she will pay it full attention, but for others, it's all a matter of whim. She's used to getting her way, or rationalising instances where she doesn't. She's flirty and a bit of a tease. She's coarse and unrefined, but has the looks that would make her stunning in higher social circles if only a Prof. Higgins would take her in and work to pass her off as a lady. She's opinionated, though, which may make that difficult. She is not subservient or submissive, but she won't play the domme, either. She will do what she needs in order to get what she wants, and that's about it.

Both a strength and a weakness, Miss Fury relies a lot on her natural ability. What this means is that her natural physical prowess gets her pretty far, consequently removing the need for diligence and discipline that could have made her so much better. As a result, she's really coasted along and has never really met a significant challenge that requires her to work up the mental toughness to keep pushing through when the going gets tough.

This undisciplined natures extends into responsibility, where she is quick to blame others and absolve herself of accountability for her negative actions. Her natural charm has been instrumental in letting much drift past her without sticking to her.

She is willful and determined, positive traits in general, but she has a tendency to apply them to her whims, She is loyal and expects the same level of loyalty from her associates. Failure to maintain the bar earns instant distrust and likely continued scrutiny from that point forward.

She holds grudges and is not quick to forgive. She may say it outwardly, but regardless of words, she will remember and stew over transgressions done against her.

Miss Fury suffers from self-loathing in that she has a distaste for Elves. As a pariah in the Elven community, she hates the haughtiness that Elves display, even though she exhibits the same behaviour herself. She dislikes the air of superiority that they maintain and just about everything that the nature-loving and magically bizarre Tir stands for. Who cares if she's misinformed? She hears what she wants to hear.

She hates the Ares Predators, because they are rivals to the Detroit Nightmares, just like the rabid enmity that exists between Yankees and Mets fans. As an extension of her dislike for her team's bitter rivals, she has transferred her distaste to encompass Ares as well, at least as far as products are concerned. She will avoid buying or using anything Ares unless absolutely necessary.

She hates Nymara, who took away the Oscar for Best Actress from her favourite sim starlet. Don't get her started about how that cow robbed Carianne Lewis of her rightfully deserved award for her performance in "Hidden Motives."

Being quite shallow in other regards, she really doesn't have much of an opinion on political or religious issues, though she has no patience for people who are pushy and try to force their opinions on her.

Above all else, she loves Urban Brawl, especially her favourite team, the Detroit Nightmares. She is a die-hard fan and can pick out details that most people wouldn't even think to remember. She can be a walking statistician in many cases.

She also loves simsense and follows two or three starlets religiously (I don't know if itd be better to have IC starlets to follow or just make up NPC's). She reveres them for their beauty, their talent, and their glamourous lifestyles, dreaming that someday, through Urban Brawl, she may have those lucrative side deals that would get her into simsense as well.

In the non-lofty goals department, she has a definite love for real kiwi fruit, though it is a distinct rarity in her lifestyle. She had a taste of one once and fell in love with it unconditionally. She also loves chocolate, for the sinful richness of the taste, which is very different from the blandness and saltiness of the soy products that she usually gets to eat. If you can say that you like any particular flavour of soy, you could say that she would rather have the hot and spicy Thai soy flavours over the more quotidian "steak and potato" flavours.

Still covered by the youthful sense of indestructibility, she doesn't fear death quite as healthily as she should, perhaps. On the other hand, she genuinely fears living the rest of her life on the streets. She wants to live in the lap of luxury and will strive to do whatever she can to get there. She fears a life of despair and destitution.

Smaller, minor fears would include Humanis, in the same manner that Black youths might fear skinheads and the police. She fears law enforcement and distrusts government, because she is SINless and knows that she would have no rights in the system if caught. She is also afraid of cats and feels squeamish around images based on vampires.

The desire to build up a "resume" to get her foot in the door for arena brawl was her primary motivating factor in becoming a shadowrunner. The option to run the shadows was presented to her by her friends in the Russian Mafia, since that is what they do, and it all went from there. There aren't very many other places where you can get gun practice in a environment that involves teamwork, especially since the Blight is mostly a free-for-all.

She does not have a SIN and has never had one, real or fake. Up until now, she has not had any reason to need a SIN.

She's pretty much full time, or at least as full-time as an undisciplined teenager might be. Otherwise, she's just another street kid and sometime floater between street gangs.

She is all about Urban Brawl and simsense, though not BTL's. She is addicted to Urban Brawl like any of the most rabid football fans in the US. Likewise, she is highly enamored with simsense, where she will scour the screamsheets and gossip columns about her favourite stars and avidly follow new releases, like a soap opera afficionado or a fanatic of a particular musical group. Shopping is also of tremendous appeal to her, though with little money to spare, most of her shopping these days is of the window variety.

She thinks it's really wiz. Some of those things that you can do with cyberware and bioware is absolutely incredible and shell read up on the stuff and dream. Like a person who loves tattoos but is afraid to go through the pain of getting one, though, she looks at most of the stuff and lets it go by as something shed never consider for herself, but loves to hear about from others. She would concede to a Smartlink system, though, perhaps a Smartlink-2, if she could ever save up enough money. She views it as something that would get her another step closer to the big leagues and buys in completely to the advertising: "It's gotta be the Smartlink-2s!"

It's a funny thing, when you're a physical adept. It's not like you can wake up one morning and suddenly discover that you are magically active. It just seems natural and a part of you as you grow up. At least, that's the way it has been for Miss Fury, enough so that she doesn't even recognize herself as a physical adept. All she knows is that she's bigger and faster than all the other girls and exceptionally so. As far as she's concerned, she's a fantastic athlete and thats all it is.

Her opinions about full and aspected mages and shamans were developed mostly through interactions with her mother. Growing up with a full Raven Shaman can be an interesting experience, indeed. Magic is not unfamiliar to her and she isn't afraid of it, though she has a healthy respect of what magic can do to a person. She doesn't know much about the technicalities of magic, but she has a basic understanding of fetishes and spirit walks and stuff like that. Has she paid much attention to it? Not really. She doesn't really care. Its her mom's path, not hers.

As a street thug, there could be any number of enemies from encounters that have occurred. It could be from something as simple as Mad Jessie, from whom Miss Fury once stole a boyfriend for a night of wild sex and then left him, tainting him to his girlfriend. It could be Joe "Titanium" Johnson, a ganger whose manhood was trampled upon by Miss Fury in a public snub and subsequent beating. It could also be Aleksandr, a thug in Russian Mafia who greatly resents Miss Fury's popularity, something that he believes has prevented him from advancing in the organization.

Hooks for Miss Fury are plenty. Starting with familial ties, it's quite possible that her mother would try to draft her to help in a mission of hers. Likewise, someone from the Russian Mafia may outsource to her or try to recruit her into the organization. Digging deeper, there's no reason why her father may not have been keeping track of her secretly, not so much out of concern for her as it is covering his own ass. Perhaps she's got unknown stepsiblings who may want to clean up an "inconvenience" in their dad's record. Perhaps her dad is someone who's now trying to run for office and wants his skeletons cleaned out. Drawing from her goals, hooks based on her fandom in simsense and total fanaticism over Urban Brawl would be surprisingly easy.