PLAYER: David Antolovich
Background/History: Johnnie grew up in Falls Road, one of the roughest areas of Belfast, Ireland. Life was poor, sometimes hungry and filled with the cheap and easy temptation to zone out with drugs, booze, BTL or TriV. But, Johnnie had seen what excessive drinking did to his father, and knew very well that path led to ruin. He had to achieve something on his own if he was to help his family out of the life they lived. But what opportunities were there for a relatively uneducated pre-teen?
There were really very few viable economic choices. He tried help his Dad fix things for a while, but that paid poorly, even when his dad was not cheated out of payment altogether. So, in the end, a life of crime was just going to be it. His mom disagreed sometimes, but she was a practical woman even more so than a devote Catholic. Besides, Johnnie had heard all that talk of heaven and so on. The thing was, you could not eat salvation, nor spend it, nor use it to heat your flat in the winter. So it was to be food now for his family, and hellfire later for Johnnie. He consoled himself that this way the rest of his family would not have to follow the same path.
It was not long after he made that decision that he ended up running with a local gang that was closely affiliated with the IRA. That he managed to thrive in this environment was as much a testament to his intelligence as his growing skills. Upon reaching puberty, he began to manifest psychic abilities that grew throughout his teen years and allowed him to assume a leading role in the gang and eventually to have an influential role in the IRA itself as a lead enforcer and infiltrator.
Johnnie would probably have continued on this track, if he had not been involved in a bombing gone bad. It turns out Jinsei tricked the IRA into hitting a target that really had noting to do with Irish freedom. In a blink of an eye, several families of innocents and more than a handful of policemen were annihilated in fiery doom. Johnnie could have played all the mind games he wanted trying to deflect responsibility, but at the end of the day Johnnie knew he had the choice of pushing that button, and that he had done so.
Johnnie thought about what he had done, and decided to go inactive with the IRA. He fled Ireland and wandered the world aimlessly for a while. This was perhaps a good choice as Jinsei needed a patsy for the crime that he had committed, and since he was not around, they manufactured one in his place. And, although the police had to officially accept the results of the investigation, quite a few officers thought he had done it. Cops being cops, unofficially they never stopped looking for him. Thus Johnnie became persona non-grata in England and a good portion of Ireland too.
Eventually, he stopped wandering and settled in Hong Kong. With his strong back ground in martial arts and clandestine work, he served variously as a street samuri, a security specialist, net runner, thief and repo man. So long as the job did not lead to innocents losing their lives, or involved mass destruction, Johnnie did it. He even took up doing odd jobs for the IRA again, although he never rejoined full time.
Just as it seemed life had finally settled down a bit for Johnnie, he learned of Jinsei's involvement around Neo York's infamous Zero Zone. Despite a lucrative offer for work in Hong Kong, he decamped and left for America. There he engaged in several missions including some rumored to be out right assassinations of Jinsei executives. That was an act which most of his friends would have said he had left behind. But Jinsei was personal of Johnnie. They had taken the last portion of innocence he could claim, and killed it. It was only fair that he return the favor.
In between his work there he watched over his younger brother whom had arrived state side for school and of course helped out the rest of his family as well. Unfortunately certain the English police officers picked up on his location in NY, so it was no longer a safe place to stay. Luckily the Jinsei war was over, so he had no strong reason to stay on and instead transfered his brother's schooling and left to return to Hong Kong.
Personality/Motivation: Johnnie is generally a happy go lucky sort. He does suffer periodic moody / introspective bouts at times, which is not so surprising given his feelings for his past. But, for the most part he ties to savor life by enjoying relationships, possessions and events to their fullest. After all, Johnnie knows the life he leads will not likely end with him dying in old age peacefully during his sleep. Not that he is particularly eager to seek that fate, after all he is pretty certain his soul won't enjoy much after he is dead, but that is simply the way of it for a life lived in the shadows.
While Johnnie has little regard for mega-corporations (especially Jinsei) viewing them as the author of many of the things wrong with society. He regards family and friends highly, going out of his way to help both his parents, siblings and friends. Sometimes he even helps out complete strangers. Maybe it is just 'because', or maybe he considerers it partial penance for what he has done.
Johnnie believes in both Karma, from his studies of eastern philosophy, as well the general principles of Christianity learned from his upbringing. Needless to say his views are somewhat more flexible than the more standard interpretations given his occupations and checkered past. Johnnie is not overtly religious, but deep down inside he does indeed believe. And, sometimes perhaps even hope that he could find salvation.
Despite what his carefree attitude when off work, he has had quite some time to reflect on his experiences. Johnnie is very professional when on the job. He researches not only the risks, but also effects his actions may have. Unfortunately for Johnnie, he rarely applies this sort of foresight before he gets himself into trouble in the first place, but that does not seem to bother Johnnie whom seems to thrive on getting himself out of one tight jam after another.
Now on the way back to Hong Kong, Johnnie is looking to complete his training in Kenjutsu as well as to master his esper abilities. Perhaps he will look up and old partner or maybe just free lance for a while. Or perhaps some opportunities will just find him, it has happened before.
Quotes: "Aye, just like mooks tae bring guns tae a sword fight."
Powers/Tactics: Johnnie is not the world most powerful esper, most skilled martial artist, accomplished thief nor even the net's best hacker. He is however, a master of stealth, and pretty good at some of those other things. A fairly broad range of skills, decent wit, and ruthlessness when roused combine to create someone who will not hesitate to employ that knowledge both effectively and asymmetrically against his foes.
As an esper, Johnnie has weak telekinetic powers giving him somewhat boosted strength, great quickness and grace, and some jumping ability. He also possesses some telepathic abilities that allow him to improve his own skills by using others knowledge that leaks form their subconscious. In combat Johnnie uses this to help read a foe's intentions, allowing him to avoid being hit and reducing damage. He can also sometimes manifest more traditional telepathic powers, but these are completely untrained and quite unreliable.
Johnnie excels at martial arts so much so that he normally relies on such maneuvers and his jumping ability to close with and handle his foes. Johnnie is not a full master of Kenjutsu, but is quite experienced with it and excels in certain areas. He has mastered dual wielding katana, Iajutsu and has learned a fair number of both armed and unarmed maneuvers. Combined with his esper abilities, this makes him quite a dangerous opponent in a melee.
As a thief, Johnnie specializes in breaking and entry, usually of physical variety, with sneaking, security systems and lock picking as his forte. He is also capable of data theft as well, although usual from an inside job as his knowledge of the net is otherwise limited. Helping with such tasks is his ever present trench coat. Not only does it hide a fair number of tools of the trade, but it is also is optical camouflage capable, allowing him to be all but invisible for time in the right circumstances and sometimes embarrassingly less so in the wrong ones.
Appearance: Johnnie stands 6'4" in height and has the body of a gymnast with the face and poise of a holo-star. Flame red long hair and green eyes complete a picture almost right from Irish mythology. Johnnie likes to wear either rather odd humored tee-shirts, or good quality western clothes, under his ever present trench coat. He normally goes around with two katana set up in a cross draw sheath across his back, one hilt pure white and one hilted jet black
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