Shinjuku Arcology Sourcebook
NPCs (Page 26)

by Christian Schaller

When Last We Met

Last time, I presented an outline for the non-existent Shinjuku Arcology Sourcebook for Jovian Chronicles. As a reminder, this is just an experiment; it is not an actual sourcebook, nor is it likely ever to become one.

Then, I noted that I would next begin presenting the Guidebook chapter, Chapter 2. That would include details about the city’s layout and such. As often happens in any project, my plans have wildly changed. Instead, this month I will present one of the four NPCs from Chapter 3, GM Resources. Off to a rather slow start, aren't we?

<<C>>Dr. Kelli Anne Hitomi, Saotome Institute

One of the new generation of Shinjuku residents - born in the arcology itself after its completion in 2183 - Kelli Anne Hitomi is one of the top scientists at the Saotome Institute of Science and, indeed, within all of the Takeda Corporate Zone. Part of the Institute’s Planetary Atmospherics Group, Kelli Anne has recently returned from a trip beyond the orbit of Pluto. The IGS-funded mission’s primary goal was to install and test the first of the Stargazer Array telescopes. The outbound leg of the journey would carry the crew on an intercept orbit with the planet Neptune, however, and the IGS took advantage of that fact to piggyback a science mission to the infrequently explored world. The SIS-PAG won the bid for the project with their proposal to do a detailed study of the planet’s atmosphere. Although she was still in graduate school during much of the planning, Kelli Anne was ultimately selected to accompany the IGS and pilot the ballute-equipped probes into the murky depths of Neptune’s atmosphere. She returned to Earth and her home in Shinjuku Arcology in early 2214, and she has spent much of her time home publishing the results of the probes’ missions as much of it as she is allowed to publish, at least.

<<D>>Vital Statistics

<<D>>Attributes

<<D>>Skills

<<D>>Profession

Kelli Anne is a highly regarded and brilliant scientist. Her early professional work, during her graduate school days, focused primarily on impact cratering, especially on Venus and Mars. After joining the Planetary Atmospherics Group, she naturally has shifted her research towards atmospheric modeling. In all cases, she has been constantly hampered by two factors: first, being quite attractive and also very successful in what is still, depressingly, considered by many to be a "man’s occupation," she is forever dogged by silent accusations of impropriety; many assume she is merely sleeping her way to the top, which is actually entirely untrue. Second, much of her work inevitably uncovers secrets, from nuclear weapons test sites on Mars to a startling discovery in the atmosphere of Neptune, and she is unable to publish her most interesting results.

<<D>>Attitudes

Despite these setbacks, Kelli Anne maintains a cheerful and bright personality. As a member of the Hitomi clan (and the favorite of the clan matriarch, Aiko Hitomi), she is surrounded by a level of comfort many on Earth could never dream of, yet she rarely takes unnecessary advantage of her situation. She enjoys meeting new people and seeing new things, and she generally goes out of her way to keep in touch with her friends, even though they may be scattered across the Solar System. The only thing capable of dragging her down is the realization that the current political climate amongst the nations threatens to keep her apart from her friends, possibly permanently.

<<D>>Combat Reactions

Kelli Anne is almost completely incapable of defending herself, much to the chagrin of her mother and her grandmother, who are both accomplished aikido practitioners. In any of Takeda’s arcologies or cities, law enforcement is plentiful enough to keep her safe, and a family bodyguard accompanies her on most journeys. In Shinjuku itself, HIOS seems almost fond of her, and it has adjusted its monitoring of her to levels slightly greater than those it devotes to the city’s mayor. (In fact, whenever Kelli Anne travels to another of Takeda’s cities, HIOS attempts to negotiate an increase in her monitoring priority with the local IOS. Its efforts quickly fail, however - although for the first few minutes of her travel within the other IOS’ domain, police units typically find their patrol routes diverted towards her position.)

Notes

This would be page 26 of the book. It's a little bit long, but not too bad; the main block should be about 200 words long, and the Profession, Attitudes, and Combat Reactions sections should each be about 100 words long. In fact, they are 210, 134, 114, and 134 words long, respectively.

This is my character from John Prins' play-by-e-mail game, The Three Faces of Memory, the same game from which Dennis Kirkpatrick presents Carolyn Reuda-Johnson (who was his character). The details of the mission are entirely John Prins' design.

Kelli had some character perks and flaws, though we don't generally use those for NPCs: they were strictly a tool for PCs. Her perks and flaws, however, included three levels of Photographic Memory, which lets her learn complex Knowledge Skills as Simple. (If you have enough complex Knowledge Skills, buying three levels of Photographic Memory works out to be quite a bargain.) She also had a Rank of 0 in the IGS (she isn't a member of the IGS per se), Famous (amongst members of the scientific community), and Notorious (also amongst members of the scientific community).

There's an item in the last section that may be somewhat confusing. The Takeda Corporate Zone employs computer networks called Information Oversight Systems (IOS) to monitor its citizens’ general health and well-being (Shadow of CEGA, page 23). HIOS is the name of the IOS that monitors Shinjuku. It ("he") will be covered at a later date. He’s not exactly self-aware, and he doesn’t exactly have a crush on Kelli Anne, but one could easily describe him as such. (The Takeda Corporate Zone is Japan and the Philippines in 2214, by the way.)

Next month should be more interesting, though I'm sure I'll get boondoggled at some point along the way.

Modified November 10, 2001

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