Chicago: Hunting Humans
Character Development
by Scriveners Swearingen and Hannan
As Hunting Humans enters it's third week, we are really hitting the stride of the game. Participation will be up next game as we all become more familiar with all the things this new toy gives us. The new system is fairly straightforward, and at the same time more simple and more complex than the old. The setting itself is also coming into focus, as is the gist of the game - it's a tale of vengeance and conspiracy which we have yet to fully uncover, if we even live that long.In this article, we examine the characters that are currently alive and participating in the strange chain of events connected to the Phoenix Project. These are the player characters that are driving the storyline of the new game. They have stepped, willing or unwilling, into a confrontation with a "shadow government" that now wants them all dead. The characters now begin a race against time to discover the secrets that will save their lives, or seal their fates forever.
Dr. Van Dagon
Dr. Dagon, or just "The Doctor" was a court psychologist who had his feet placed firmly on the ground. Having worked in the prison system and with innumerable disturbed patients, his work has revealed the true horror of the human psyche to him, but he has always had faith in the ability of the mind to heal itself, just as the body does. In practice, this has mixed results.
A family man with strict self-discipline, he truly wants to help his patients and those around him - but the streets of Chicago have taken their toll on Dr. Dagon. He developed a program named "Phoenix", a radical therapy program designed to rehabilitate criminal mentalities through normal human interaction and activity. The program had been running for about one week during the events of the first game session, but now the program has been scrapped and "re-imagined" into a military insurgency designed to root out and destroy the men responsible for a number of heinous acts. The Doctor can only then do what is right, and works with the ISA to become the handler of the new "Phoenix Project". Only now, he must mold the criminal psyches he once sought to save into successful espionage unit.
Ralph Wiggins
This 17 year old high school student is anything but typical. After all, how could you call a teenager who wears leather breeches and carries a replica Apache warclub in his back pack typical? Ralph was one of the Doctor's first charges, and is obsessed with wolves and other wild animals - especially their skin. Ralph is an especially skilled scout, and often acts in a low-key surveillance or reconnaissance role.
Giuseppe Puzzo
Not long ago, this unassuming fellow was a low level Mafia thug, and he still has some family ties in the local criminal underworld. Once a drug trafficker by trade, Giuseppe was keen to find any new avenue he could take to get the promotion and recognition he desired. The bosses have had their eyes on him for a while, but now he's been dragged into the Phoenix Project. He seems to enjoy his new work, but how far he's come from his "family" roots remains to be seen. Whether or not his loyalty is divided or in question, his connections can certainly help in the Phoenix Project's less-than-legal agenda.
Wyatt "Earp" Roberts
A perfect product of his time, this suburban "thug" (i.e. wannabe hip-hop 'gangsta') swings his ego and his trust fund all around parts of Chicago. White boys shouldn't necessarily play around out here, but this hasn't deterred the young rap enthusiast. Wyatt has disappeared following the incident at the loft...though we are sure the ISA didn't overlook him during the weeks that followed.
Randy Ball
At 26 years of age, Randy is a self-styled "techno-nerd". How
ever, he is quite athletic, to the point of being quite skilled in parkour - the art of free-running. When he's not flipping up buildings, he's probably hacking into whatever computer target the Phoenix Project needs - or porn sites. Randy fills an important niche in the team, as his grasp of computer science allows insight and access where otherwise none would be had. More than once a casual remark by this unassuming young man has caused the other members of the team to alter their course to a more logical and ultimately benificial end. As a member of the team, his chief responsibility lies in computer manipulation, a task at which he excels.
J.B. Andersen
A veteran of the Vietnam War, J.B. Andersen served his country with honor and loyalty - and now it seems that country may have betrayed him. An expert in covert operation and espionage, he has proven to be a particular challenge for the "shadow government" to eliminate. Now, after finally resurfacing in the city of Chicago, J.B. thought he could live the rest of his twilight days in peace. But when you have as many hidden enemies as this man, all of whom will unhesitatingly risk life and limb to capture or harm you...such things are pipe dreams. However, fate is fickle, and a bizarre series of incidents have led J.B. to a position he has only dreamed he was capable of ever reaching. Newly appointed by the ISA as the Field Commander for the "re-imagined" Project Phoenix, Andersen could finally get what he's needed for the past twenty years...revenge.
Khaliv Valdez
Detective Valdez had worked for the Chicago PD for many years before being assigned to the original Phoenix Therapy for anger management. However, during the last few weeks so much has happened to him he can hardly keep his head straight. He's been suspended, re-instated, and attached indefinitely to a paramilitary unit made up of crazy people.
He is haunted by the horrific things he has seen on the beat, and it fills him with rage. Even before assignment to the new Phoenix Project, he would often take things into his own hands when dealing with the criminal element of the city. His police training and information connections make him an invaluable investigative asset to the team.
Gi Gi La'mour
Once a small time singer who aspired to fame and fortune via the seedy clubs and dives of Chicago, Gi Gi is an attractive young woman who by a stroke of very ill fortune managed to land herself directly in the middle of some serious business. Gi Gi has been attached to the Phoenix Project as a operative who is capable of using feminine wiles to further the agenda of the team. Unable to get out of the present situation, she's willing to go as far as she can - though she's no real fighter, she has been given rudimentary training during her time on the island. Very soon, the Phoenix Project will call upon her to perform her duty. In that moment, Gi Gi knows that she will have to act boldly - and she happens to act very well.
Agent Simon Doan
When the ISA appropriated the Phoenix Project, Agent Simon Doan was brought in to help ready the new soldiers for combat on the ISA's island training complex. Doan is a career soldier, and started his special forces training as a SEAL in the U.S. Navy. He then spent some time as a CIA operative and has seen quite a few theaters across the middle-east and eastern Europe. Appointed as "Tactical Advisor" to the Phoenix Project, he provides combat insight to the team at the ground level.
Doan is a very cold and distant person, less haunted by the atrocities he's witnessed (and performed) than he is shaped by them. He cares little for his enemies lives or their sense of self-worth, often using degrading and painful methods of torture, psychological and otherwise. In his reasoning, he does what he must for his country...nothing more, nothing less. It's a dirty job (torturing and killing enemies of the state), and someone has to do it.
