Mage Characters

Clarence Harvey

Name: Clarence Harvey

Tradition: Virtual Adepts

Essence: Questing

Nature: Loner

Demeanor: Deviant

Concept: Cat-burglar

Quote: Let’s see: radar motion detectors, 360° IR heat sensors, pressure-sensitive floor panels, air pressure monitoring, 24-hour video surveillance, security checks at random intervals, concrete reinforced walls, ceiling, and floor, time-lock on the only door in or out, and only one key. Not to mention the spirit guardians and matrix wards. Piece of cake.

Concept: An Awakened cat-burglar

Description: In his late forties, Clarence is 5′ 9″ tall and weighs about 160 lbs. He has short dark-brown hair and a slight moustache and goatee that is beginning to grey. He wears glasses although he doesn’t need them.

Prelude: Clarence was raised by his mother in England, who told him that she had met his father during WWII but that he died after the war. He was very surprised when, at the age of 18, his father returned from the States to find him. His father, Thomas, offered to train Clarence in the ‘family’ business: high-class second story thievery, or cat-burglary. Clarence jumped at the chance.

That began an arduous, five year training program, where Thomas taught Clarence everything he knew about the business. In the fifth year of the training, he revealed why this was so important to him: he was dying of cancer and wanted to leave his legacy. He died three months after the training was completed, having watched Clarence steal the priceless Emerald Star of Nigeria: he died happy, knowing his skills and talents were passed on to another generation.

Clarence took his father’s training and contacts and went further than his father ever went. He earned a reputation for audacious, cunning, traceless thefts, and criminal organizations and unscrupulous collectors all demanded his services.

His clients and their requests had always been odd, but they became stranger as the years went by and as his reputation grew: he began to steal unknown but priceless artwork for shadowy individuals, primitive artwork for respectable but mysterious organizations, and bizarre corporate secrets for a variety of business interests.

It was on one of these ‘requests’ that he ran into a security system that he was totally unprepared for: passing a statue, its arm reached out and grabbed him in an unbreakable hold. Several hours later, when the owner returned, he only chuckled at the sight and then bade the golem to put Clarence down. He then invited Clarence for tea.

He explained to Clarence the true history of reality and of the Ascension War. He also said that Clarence possessed an Avatar worthy of a Mage and told him that the needed to be taught. He did not offer to teach Clarence himself, but passed him along to a friend of his who was a part of the Technocracy who had just recently broken them and joined the Traditions, one of the Virtual Adepts. Under his mentor’s tutelage Clarence’s abilities blossomed further, and he began to take on ‘requests’ against the Technocracy and companies like Pentex. Always for a fee, of course.

Magick: Since Clarence is older than the common Age of Computers, he doesn’t really trust them and unlike most of the Adepts refuses to use one with his magick. (He does use it for other purposes, however.) Instead, his personal focus is a home-built, hand-held battery-operated contraption of meters, dials, buttons, switches and lights that vaguely resembles a tricorder. He has progressed beyond needing its aid with his primary Sphere of Correspondence, yet still needs it for his other Spheres of Entropy and Matter.

Backgrounds: He has an Ally, Shelby Price, an old friend of his father’s who sometimes dotes on the old master’s young prodigy. Shelby acts as Clarence’s fence and ‘business’ contact. The shadows seem a home to Clarence: he finds it very easy to slide into their embrace and disappear. Finally he is very rich from his many years in the business.

Merits: Clarence is capable of outstanding feats of concentration and will. [Concentration (1)] His years as a cat-burglar have given him contacts and ties to criminal organizations throughout the country and beyond: some of which he suspects may be supernaturally controlled. [Black Market ties (3)] 

Flaws: His several successful years in the profession have made him very confident of his abilities: too confident, in fact. [Overconfident (1)] He has also taken to little leaving tokens at the scenes of his burglaries as a sort of signature: these tokens take the form of a silver dollar. [Compulsion: show-off (1)] Outside of his profession, Clarence is more shy than ever. [Shy (1)]

Equipment: Roll of silver dollars; set of lock-picking equipment in leather case, with more hidden on his person; suitcase with disguise equipment (makeup, wigs, and other stuff); late model laptop computer with modem; pocket technical and scientific references.

Roleplaying Hints: Clarence is a shadow: he delights in being sneaky, skulking in the shadows. But once he’s working, he likes to be the center of attention.