Last week I mentioned how Life Modules helps give depth to the characters, but at the same time it’s hard to prevent too much overlap. This is especially hard when dealing with specialized characters such as Faces and Mages. Afte all, there’s only so many modules that give magical skills.

Here’s the two mages, one Combat and one more support, Overwatch so to speak. I had a tough time tweaking those, and ended up switching the Overwatcher’s tradition to the Combat Mage because it fit far better.

Let’s start with the Combat Mage, Carl: Carl is a human who was born in the Siouan part of Denver. His parents were soldiers, which impacted his behaviour and gave him quite a lack of manners. Rather than teaching him one of the many Siouan dialects, his parents were pragmatic and taught him ka-re-tsv, the lingua franca of the Sioux Nation.

Carl got sent to Military School, which instilled a moral code into him that still influences his actions to his day. While in Military School, he awoke as a magician from the Siouan tradition. Now he wanted some magical training, but without selling his soul to the Megacorps. So he went to Community College, Majoring in the Magic program. Now Sioux still knows the draft, because they’re paranoid about the UCAS. So after college Carl was drafted into the Siouan army, sticking around for a full five-year tour as Wildcat.

Now Carl only saw action against the occasional smuggler and such during his tour, and he felt the need for more. So he decided to find a battlefield where his talents were actually useful. Rather than going for anglo territory, he decided to go to Africa where he served as mercenary in several Congo armies and picked up some French.

After he got tired of Mercing about, Carl decided to check out the neighbouring country of Kenya. A man of his magical talents was well sought-after and so he spent several years as a Street Mage in the Shadows of Nairobi. It was then that he drew the attention of Wild Life Incorporated, who decided they could use someone with magical talent and experiences all over the globe.

Carl’s military training shows in his heavy knowledge of Small Unit Tactics, while his spell reservoir is all combat spells and self-buffs. While he’s not as skilled as he’d prefer in magic, he compensates with extra training in combat spells and a spell focus that makes him really pack a punch. His mental focus on combat even causes his direct spells to be more painful yet also more taxing.

Next is Mr. Overwatch, and no you don’t need to know his name. He was born in Seattle as the child of two proud Dwarves. Unfortunately, during his youth his parents ended up accused of being Blood Mages and had to go on the lam. This caused the child to grow rather untrusting of others, and to this day many suspect he is the same as his parents are said to be, a Blood Mage.

As for his folks, one day they didn’t run far enough and Renraku caught up with them. During this stressful situation Overwatch awoke and Renraku decided they cared less about the parents and more about the boy. So they made a deal with him: Sell his soul to the Corp and they’d take care of his folks. Betraying them would mean abandoning his family…

Overwatch received magical education in preparation for the Corp, then went through a bit of community college to further increase his knowledge of magic. After that he spent a while working directly for Renraku as Wage Mage. But Renraku decided they didn’t want a man of his talents inside the company. Instead they wanted him as playable tool outside. Specifically they wanted him to find more people they could use like him.

Thanks to his Renraku SIN overriding his Criminal SIN, scoring a job in Law Enforcement was rather easy for Overwatch. So he served as Mage support, but his paranoid attitude didn’t help making him likeable with his colleagues. So Renraku decided to change the plan. With Africa being an awakened continent, there was bound to be something useful for them there. So Overwatch resigned and went to Johannesburg, where he spent several years as Occult Investigator. It paid the bills, and the occasional report home helped keep Renraku satisfied.

One day Wild Life Incorporated approached Overwatch, impressed by his magical talents. Personally he suspects they know about his Renraku-ties, and doesn’t know why they don’t care about him briefing things on to his corporate masters. He might just be paranoid, or they might not care if it means borrowing a useful tool.

Overwatch is better at spellcasting than Carl, but a bit weaker magically. He wields a Power Focus so that all his magical mojo gets a boost, rather than one small part of it. He owns some neat clothes with modifications against tasers and toxins, only has the one Talismonger contact and his spells are primarily focused on control as well. Detection and illusion spells help him stay safe, combat can be done if really necessary, and his Wuxing tradition is a perfect match for his controlled style of living.