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Joseph Brown - CEO of Alpha through Epsilon.
The man that brings the company together. Drifts from charming to an utter jackass.

Elysia Kavanagh - Revisions Specialist
An ice mage whose mentor helped her get a job at A~E. She's still learning the ropes of "the team".

Charles White - Head of Assets Protection and Escort Services
What can I say, the ******** can drive, talk and fight. He's a triple threat.

Heavy Lifter - Strange Machine
An experment in machine empathy and the human brain.

Greeneyes
A restless shifter looking for the cure to her rare genetic disorder.

Username: Joseph Brown

Name: Joseph Brown



Description: Joseph is your average 5'7" white-bread suburban variety male. Not a buff fellow, but at a reasonable weight. That doesn't mean he's in shape though, he eats far too little and when he does it's rarely good for him. The chaser of booze and cigarettes doesn't help either. Gray-green eyes, hair that is a tangle of curls, waves and poofs, rarely shaven, and the least serious look you'd ever see. He has soft facial features, an advantage that make him look more trustworthy than he is.

Currently he has a scar line going up his left side from n****e to belly button and arm, shoulder to elbow. This was a recent procedure to remove remnants of the Variant Thirteen virus. Both closed wounds were healed magically, but hastily, by Seyumi Kaikou

Being the CEO of Alpha through Epsilon he has an overabundance of business type clothing. At this point he has just taken to wearing his business clothes casually. He has a closet full of solid-colour collar shirts, which he wears with two buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up. Pants have always been whatever he could grab, usually black or shades of brown. He has a collection of blazers and coats he has nearly destroyed from going out and doing field work. He makes a constant effort to wear them to meetings rather than the neglected business suits. He does occasionally wear a tie, but since he never does up the top button they're never pulled up enough to make him look professional.


Equipment: Joseph is a generally light traveller.
He of course carries both the guns Runespitter Positive and Runespitter Negative holstered under his blazer. They look like revolvers with intricate runic patterns embedded in them. The Negative runes are a slightly darker shade than the ones on the positive, the only difference. Joseph guesses that this is because the magically sensitive mythril reacts differently to the runes. Other than that he admits he knows jack s**t about magic. than the Except for the "they focus magic" bit, they function like regular revolvers, and have an easy access barrel for fast reload times.
He carries 8 rounds, six shots each, of mythril bullets. Two rounds are always loaded, two of them are in revolver speed loaders. On top of this he has one bullet of "Warp", "Seal" and "Disrupt" as well as three bullets of "barrier" hidden in a secret pocket.
He has a multipurpose A~E cell phone/PDA. It allows him to make calls, check his mail and connect to the A~E satellite network.
There is also his wallet. 20 dollars cash, ID, business cards, a company expense account card.
He's never without a cheap plastic lighter or a pack of smokes.
Finally, he as a keycard that works for most doors and elevators in A~E. High security ones require a code as well.

Abilities:
School: Rune Gunning: Joseph, thanks to his fathers side of the family disowning him, is totally unaware of his magical heritage. While if he was trained carefully and consistently from youth he would have been casting spells with the best of them. Well probably not, considering he has the patience and memory of a six year old retarded goldfish. Like so many things in his life casting can be described by "wasted talent" and "squandered potential".
Luckily when A~E acquired the company owned by Salvador Julian, famous magic researcher, he acquired Runespitters. These were guns made of the magically receptive metal mythril and carefully inscribed with runes. Joseph of course thought they were very nice looking firearms and claimed them as his own.

The guns channel magic through power words, Joseph discovered this after shooting at someone and saying "boom". The impact point of the bullet was suddenly outlined by runes and quickly exploded. When he went to do this again, with the other Runespitter, the effect was different. This time a shield of flame came up between him and his enemy. Effectively allowing his enemy to get away.
From this he named one "RS Positive" and the other "RS Negative"

Basic words, can be activated through mythril bullets.
"Boom" is a bastardisation of "flame'. The RS Negative effect is a small explosion around where the bullet will hit. The RS Positive effect a ring of fire to burst upwards in a six foot radius around the bullet. Alternatively too bullets can be fired up to twelve feet apart and the wall will form between them.

"Stun" is a less focused version of "Bolt". The Negative effect effectively turns the gun into an extra long range tazer, this word must be spoken before firing. The Positive version creates a rune circle around the impact point and sends small shocks to paralyse whatever steps in in.

"Chill" was discovered after watching the resident ice mage do her thing. The negative effect is one of the few words he has to say while the bullet is flying. It causes the bullet to slowly turn into an icicle, getting larger and larger as the bullet speeds through the air. The positive version causes an small eruption of ice to shoot out from the impact point. Normally this is just a hunk of concentrated pointy ice, quite dangerous especialy since the colder the conditions the more ice that gets formed.

"Form" is actually fairly accurate. The Negative version causes a mesh of runes to zoom forward pushing whatever is in it's way. This dissipates when it stops moving (Ie pins someone to a wall) or after a minute. The Positive effect creates a stationary rune mesh that can be used as a platform. This lasts five minutes or until a new platform is created.

There are some bullets that are themselves inscribed with runes. Joseph saves these special spells since he cannot reproduce them. They do not require power words nor do they have different effects in the positive and negative RSes.

The "warp" bullet allows Joseph to return to a location he knows very well. This pretty much limits him to the A~E building and the Temple of Falis.

The "seal" bullet creates a runic circle with a 7 foot radius that no organic object can enter or exit. This dissipates after one minute. If Joseph "casts" another spell while "seal" is active the seal dissipates. It can also be dispelled magically.

The "disruption" bullet taxes any magic or metamagic that passes through the 15 foot radius field it creates. Barriers will be taxed, spells will be hard to cast and any telepathy will be distorted with a "snow" type sound.

"Barrier" bullets have to be used in tandem with "seal". Essentially Joseph would fire two or three barriers and then a seal between them. Once the seal hits a 8 foot wall of magical energy forms between the points. The barrier fades after a minute, or after it takes heavy magical damage.

As a note, Joseph is not yet badass enough to use both guns at the same time.

History: "The Alpha through Epsilon corporation has been a staple in life in Barton for a good few years now. They act as a holding company, aggressively purchasing company after company. Some argue that A~E has strayed so far from the robotics firm that nobody really knows what they produce. A robotics firm, contracting agency, weapons division, and a medicinal branch all have their headquarters inside the 85 story Alpha through Epsilon building. What do they have to do with each other? Why do unrelated divisions sometimes work together? Why is the board of directors made up of a select few individuals? I believe that all these questions can be answered by investigating the life of the shadowy head of the corporation, Joseph Brown."

"My name is Jack Gaull, and this is GAIA 9 Action news, Investigative Report Show."

The screen shows stock footage of the town of Oceanside, a suburban nightmare. There's an ariel long shot of the basin the town is situated around and the rows of cookie cutter homes. "Joseph Brown is one of the many successful people that forced themselves to the top from humble origins. He grew up in a small family in an Oceanside city far away from the bustle of Barton. In truth it really wasn't a city by today's standards, but most who lived there called it one. He lived a content life with his mother, sister and a man who was more of a father figure than his father. He was instilled with two quite opposite sets of values from his parents, one is the classic set of 'do good and be good' type parental lessons, but the other was quite Machiavellian."

"I always told him "Do what ever it takes to get ahead."" The screen had cut to an older lady speaking. The bottom of the screen displayed 'Leanne Brown, Subject's Mother'."We had the view that we could only trust the family, and relay only the immediate family. You have to realise that it's a cruel world, and friends will stab you in the back if you get in their way. We just wanted to teach him to look out for himself and not make our mistakes."

"The 'Our' referred to Joseph's stepfather Leroy Jaymes. His father had died in a tragic accident when he was young and Joseph treated this man like a father. From interviews with Joseph it seems the CEO has mixed feelings about his biological parent and prefers not to talk about it. In one interview he went as far to say 'Leroy is my father blood or not'."

Cut to a gentleman with a close cropped military haircut and a warm smile. The footer reads "Leroy Jaymes, Subject's Stepfather". "The kid had a lot of talent, and a natural way with people. I always told him he'd make a million gold one day, how else would he pay for his family's retirement."

"Joseph took this advice more seriously than his parents thought; he played the nice guy so people would trust him. He respected his friends though, he had a policy of know everything but tell nothing. It got him quite far with the select group of friends he had. But he could only get so far in the two-bit ocean town he was in. Too many people had fallen into the trap of becoming stagnant and settling for less. He decided, much to his parents' dismay, to move to the big city of Barton." The scene began with a shot of Chaufer Padwik High, the school Joseph went to, and ends with a long shot of the Barton skyline.

"The enterprising young Joseph had to pay most of his own way through university." The shot cuts from footage of Barton Prince University, to archive footage of the Salvador Julian Building before A~E bought it. "He worked as a low-level clerk at Salvador Technologies, at the time a leader in magical device research. He was recorded to be a hard worker, hilarious to have around the office and flagged as having "management potential". Needless to say the young Joseph Brown impressed Salvador Julian."

"He learned business working for us and look where it got him. Maybe it was because of all the chastising we did about the useless Philosophy degree he was taking." The man marked "Salvador Julian, Retired Businessman" deadpanned the last line despite its humour value. "When he said he was looking for investors so he could start his own business, it made an old man proud. I provided the money, he provided the ideas."

"Alpha through Epsilon burst onto the scene as a small robotics research firm." Footage of a factory assembling Alpha droids, essentially floating disks with one camera eye and a arm attached to the underside. "The design for the multipurpose Alpha droid was incredibly popular amongst offices and work sites looking for a cheap hand. When the company opened their weapons division the droid was modified to have a gun instead of an arm. Inexpensive and easy to produce guards were even more popular amongst the clientele."

"The company really took off then," An east asian looking man tagged "Lester Po, Nyman Gun Co. Heir" explained, "I had known Joseph for about two years at that point, we met at a conference for weaponry systems. Nothing but a friend since then, and a blast to drink with on weekends. My company was his first acquisition, saved our a**. Despite years of producing quality firearms, nobody at the Nyman Gun Co. was willing to produce crap. Joseph on the other hand knew how to market an expensive product in a sea of mass produced garbage."

"I think at that point," Lester continues speaking as footage of the first A~E building is shown, "It was just Joey, Claire and myself at the top. We didn't make another acquisition until Salvador Julian retired and discreetly gave us a price for Salvador Electronics. Joey of course accepted, throwing in some share of A~E into the mix. Rare move for Joey, he had always kept the shares of the corporation within a close nit group. Says that's the way his family did business and anyone he gave shares he considered family. Made for a small board since Salvador only sat occasionally as an honorary member."

The screen shows an montage of different companies, "After that acquisition A~E went on a buying spree. Denver Pharmaceuticals, Guy and Guy Construction, LeRoy auto parts, Hexus Research and many more. Why the interest in so many different groups. The answer digs into A~E's seedy side, and arguably the true face of A~E. These companies make an impenetrable mesh of deceit blinding the public to what A~E really researched."

"Joseph Brown's company researches failed, abandoned, or otherwise "acquired" experiments." The screen displays old news clips of gang killings, bombings and break ins, "A~E has been involved in many of these incidents of industrial espionage. The company is willing to go to any length to succeed. Even worse these experiments are some off the most dangerous projects ever attempted, classified as ideas that only madmen would follow through on."

"I first became suspicious of A~E's dealings after Joseph Brown was presumed missing or dead." The show uses news footage of a pressconfrence. Lester Po is delivering the bad news. In the background you can see Claire Fontaine, Joseph Brown's personal assistant. "The random attack on A~E seemed improbable. With the public in mind GAIA 9 IRS did some research.

(Roleplayed from here on in) The film uses a security camera tape of Angelo, Aaron, Stryphe and the Variant 13 virus in an elevator. "The so called attack was actually led by an escaped experiment of A~E's. The Omnipraga virus variant 13 is a dangerously intelligent viral weapon that uses a "host" body to pose as a human being. The battle escalated when Variant 12 of the virus also entered the fray heading towards one of the building's subbasements." The footage switches to black and white security roll of the fight between Stryphe and Variant 12, a wounded Joseph off to the side. "The V12 is more aggressive, less empathetic and extremely violent compared to the V13. In the ultimate monster movie moment Joseph attempted to subdue the virus only to become severely wounded. If it wasn't for the "hero" Stryphe destroying the virus and bringing Joseph Brown to the Temple of Falis, the CEO would have been dead"

"During the Grand Battle A~E is rumoured to have been even more despicable." Cuts to amateur footage of an man with a scythe fighting an industrial looking robot. Eventually the man comes down hard on the robot shattering most of it's armour. "Insider reports say that A~E sold the "Heavy Lifter" unit to the attacking forces as a field test." A quick cut to a panning view of the wreckage of the Temple of Falis. "Joseph on the other hand would never see if the field test did well. While he was recovering in the Temple, the attackers had strategically bombed it. Barely surviving the explosion Joseph discovered the dying host of the V13 virus. Proving himself an obsessed madman, Joseph took the infection on so his research would not be lost."

"Joseph then went into hiding, communicating with his company through a secret outpost. After GAIA 9 investigated the gang shooting in a downtown fish and chips shop, we discovered startling information. The shop was owned buy A~E and the man running it, Lester Special, was actually Lester Po with a ridiculous accent. We believe this was Joseph's rendevouz point so he could run the company from hiding." Cut from the shot up shop to a press conference, "When Joseph returned to the spotlight, he revealed that the mysterious building being constructed at the edge of town would be the new home of A~E. What he didn't reveal was his plan to round up ex-gangsters to do his bidding. As revealed in his personal journal, the sentient V13 virus had written a list of people to hire. These were all ex-members of the Black Dragon Syndicate, and therefore trained to do the underhanded dealings A~E required.

The next shot displays crappy amature footage of a robot climbing into the back of an A~E armoured car. It was short, looked angry and had a equally angry looking congregation of Falis behind it. "Not only did A~E aid Gaia organised crime, but also the agents of random havoc. This robot has been identified as, not only an attacker of the DeSaul foundry, but also one of the renegade robots from Carter City." Archive footage of the ruins of the city is shown, and then the clip of the military using a tactical bomb on the place. "In another disgusting show of the battle for profit, Brown and his lackeys battled with Matthias Weinburg over control of the robot. Not caring about the collateral damage, the 27th floor of the building was destroyed."

"While Alpha through Epsilon is a tough company to expose, the truth has to get out there! GAIA 9 IRS is proud to bring you the voice of..."

BBBZZZZTTTTT... The screen goes blank.

RP Sample: "So that's the only tape?" Joseph said to the man handing him a now ejected VHS, "and that file contains all the stolen documents."

"Yes Mr. Brown." An entirely too flustered station manager commented back. This report could have been disastrous to all the parties involved. Thank God someone had showed it to him before it aired, otherwise Joseph would have never got a call.

"And the dude that made it?" Joseph put the tape in his pocket so he could carry the folder easier.

"Fired." The balding man wiped the sweat from his forehead, "He stole documents, used station money to make bribes and made dozens of wild statements. He's as bad as he wanted you to seem."

"Seems you have everything in order," Joseph nodded and turned to leave, "Was a pleasure."

"Mr. Brown?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for your generous donation." The manager said with a false bravado, he had to live up to Joseph's compliment. Be a hardass leader.

"Hey," Joseph gave a mocking salute as he left, "Public television is supported by viewers like me."



As Joseph left the GAIA 9 building he lit up a cigarette, stretched, thought how beautiful a day was and got punched square in the jaw. Stumbiling backwards from the supprise attack he dropped the file he was carrying. Not paying any attention to the scattering papers he turned to face his attacker.

Surprise, surprise. Jack Gaull.

"You b*****d! You paid them off didn't you." The budding investigative reporter spat at Joseph, "You're afraid of the truth."

Realising his career was over Jack reached for the small pistol he had bought earlier that day. Ironically a Nyman brand gun. Joseph was quicker on the draw though. He reached under his coat drawing the lighter of his two guns. He fired a warning shot in between the reporters legs. For someone who was on the "hard edge of news" Jack jumped pretty high.

"Any last w-words." The shaken reported tried to keep his cool after the shot.

"Yeah," Joseph smirked, "Stun."

On cue the bullet imbedded in asphalt turned to a spot of light and burst outwards into a runic pattern. Before jack could figure out what the hell had happened the circle sent light electrical shocks through his body. Unable to move the reporter fell to the ground, hand still in his pants trying to find the gun. The circle dissipated into nothing in time with the thump of his body.

"Yeah police," Joseph was already on his cellphone, "Attempted aggravated assault behind the GAIA 9 news building. Yep, it's Joseph. Yeah Sara, I got him with my tazer."

Notes: Joseph's biggest weakness is in his weapon. Unlike most mages his limited by ammo rather than exhaustion. This wouldn't be so bad if his magical bullets didn't have to double as his normal bullets. For every non-magical attack he does he wastes one "casting" of a general power word. It also means he can miss with a spell easier. If the gun misfires, or somebody pushes him the bullet may land in a useless place. Nor is Joseph a military sharpshooter, so he can't magically make difficult shots without a lot of luck. Generally he's best at medium range.

Joseph has no idea how his guns work. He assumes the power comes from his guns, not from his ignored magical heritage. So if he gets silenced/magically incapacitated he won't think anything of it. When he does try to "cast" a spell, he will be unable, and probably swear a lot.

Joseph is recovering from recent surgery to remove the V13 virus. While magical healed, he's still adjusting to not having it in him.

To finish it off he's a chronic smoker, and has all the breathing problems of one. Still, he's more likely to get shot before cancer sets in.

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