Character a Day 2023: Day 7: Night's Black Agents

Part 1: Envisioning the Character

Sam Whitman grew up in the system. His father was a crooked cop, and his mother died in the fallout when his father was found out. to say he had trust issues was putting it mildly, and growing up on the street his lack of respect for authority and his natural intelligence got him in trouble more than once. But it always seemed to go away. He was sponsored in a special program that only a few select children in the system were chosen for, and found his life change as he was cared for and in the best schools- but the damage had been done. His increased access only made his scams larger. He was eclectic, running cons and forgeries of everything from petty documents to artwork. It wasn't until later that he found out he wasn't as clean in his work as he'd thought- the company had its eye on him for a while, and pulled him in once there was nowhere for him to go.

He was a valuable asset for the agency, able to blend in most places and his natural charm and abilties helping once he was inside to pull off elaborate cons for various purposes, supposedly on the side of the angels. But even as he started to get more in touch with his side that wanted to help, he chafed at the authority over him. This was aggravated as he began to see strange things in his assignments. He became close to one of his sources- he didn't like that he worked for the company, but liked Same, so they had a unique relationship that helped him work at an even higher level than he would otherwise. When found out his balking and questions were causing problems for his mentor, and his source found out that his mentor had been the one to groom him- paying because he felt guilty about dragging his father down, he decided to leave. Faking his death, he got out. But that's when things really started to get weird...

Part 2: Building the Character

I want Sam to be cool as a cucumber, so I make his MOS Stability. Along with that, I want him to be skilled in moving in high society and pulling jobs, so I get the backgrounds Black Bagger and Cuckoo. He wants to find out the truth of what happened to his father, and help others with his newly found morals, so I'll make his drive Restoration.

Sources of Stability- since he can no longer be himself, and hides himself in covers, his actual passport reminds him of who he is. His old CI is of course still in his life. And I'm going to say at one point he was serious about a girlfriend, and he told her about what he did when somethign happened to make it impossible to hide. She disappeared, leaving a note. He took over her apartment under one of his covers, and it's his one safehouse that no on knows about.

With that out of the way, I have to apply the backgroudns, and spend the points- I'm making him for a two person game, so 70 general build points, and 32 investigative build poitns.

Abilities (Investigative)

Art History 2 Criminology 1 History 1 Languages 2 (English, French, Pashto, Urdu, Russian, Hindi, Italian) Bullshit Detector 2 Cop Talk 1 Flattery 2 Flirting 2 High Society 2 Negotiation 1 Reassurance 2 Streetwise 1 Tradecraft 1 Cryptography 1 Data Recovery 1 Electronic Surveillance 2 Forgery 3 (Degas, American Passports, one other) Notice 1 Photography 2 Traffic Analysis 1 Urban Survival 1 (Known City)

Abilities (General)

Athletics 1 Conceal 2 Cover 13 Digital Intrusion 2 Disguise 8 Driving 1 (Motorcycle) Filch 8 Gambling 3 Hand to Hand 8 Health 8 Infiltration 8 Network 15 Preparedness 5 Sense Trouble 4 Shooting 5 Stability 8 Surveillance 4

Part 3: Final Character and Conclusions

Name: Sam Whitman Drive: Restoration MOS: Stability Background: Black Bagger, Cuckoo Previous Patron: CIA Hit Threshold: 3 Investigative Build Points: 0/32 General Build Points: 0/70 Experience: 0/0

Sources of Stability: His Actual Passport York, his old source in the Agency His Ex's apartment in Amsterdam

Background

Sam Whitman grew up in the system. His father was a crooked cop, and his mother died in the fallout when his father was found out. to say he had trust issues was putting it mildly, and growing up on the street his lack of respect for authority and his natural intelligence got him in trouble more than once. But it always seemed to go away. He was sponsored in a special program that only a few select children in the system were chosen for, and found his life change as he was cared for and in the best schools- but the damage had been done. His increased access only made his scams larger. He was eclectic, running cons and forgeries of everything from petty documents to artwork. It wasn't until later that he found out he wasn't as clean in his work as he'd thought- the company had its eye on him for a while, and pulled him in once there was nowhere for him to go.

He was a valuable asset for the agency, able to blend in most places and his natural charm and abilities helping once he was inside to pull off elaborate cons for various purposes, supposedly on the side of the angels. But even as he started to get more in touch with his side that wanted to help, he chafed at the authority over him. This was aggravated as he began to see strange things in his assignments. He became close to one of his sources- York- he didn't like that Sam worked for the company, but liked him, so they had a unique relationship that helped him work at an even higher level than he would otherwise.

Three things caused him to leave the company: First, he found out his balking and questions were causing problems for his mentor. Added to that, York found out that his mentor had been the one to groom him- paying because he felt guilty about dragging his father down. The final straw was Jessica. He'd grown close to her, but one of his ops followed him into what little personal life he had. He had to end up telling her, and finding out he'd been lying about so much was too much for her. Deciding he wanted out, he faked his death. But that's when things really started to get weird...

Abilities (Investigative)

Art History 2 Criminology 1 History 1 Languages 2 (English, French, Pashto, Urdu, Russian, Hindi, Italian) Bullshit Detector 2 Cop Talk 1 Flattery 2 Flirting 2 High Society 2 Negotiation 1 Reassurance 2 Streetwise 1 Tradecraft 1 Cryptography 1 Data Recovery 1 Electronic Surveillance 2 Forgery 3 (Degas, American Passports, one other) Notice 1 Photography 2 Traffic Analysis 1 Urban Survival 1 (Known City)

Abilities (General)

Athletics 1 Conceal 2 Cover 13 Digital Intrusion 2 Disguise 8 Driving 1 (Motorcycle) Filch 8 Gambling 3 Hand to Hand 8 Health 8 Infiltration 8 Network 15 Preparedness 5 Sense Trouble 4 Shooting 5 Stability 8 Surveillance 4