Second Dawn: Rawle James Kershwin

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This is a reference document for the LARP The Second Dawn.

Rawle James Kershwin Player: Sean C Appalachian construction worker; AI hunter Age: 335/30ish

Additional Information (read first): Cataclysm, AI, Seerstones

Background: You have two histories, two pasts, starting over thirty and three hundred years ago. Rawle James Kershwin was born in the northern Appalachian town of Clarksburg, in the wooded hills west of the Columbia Wastes. As with most towns in the Confederacy, it was a good simple life, with hard work on the farm. You proved better at working with your hands than on the soil itself, and you apprenticed to the local blacksmith, learning how to repair the handmade tools and build replacement parts for the rare tractors and other heavy equipment bought from the Union flatlanders. One day almost four years ago, a man from the Confederacy foreign service came to see you, said they wanted you for a job. Curious, you went with him… and were changed. In the years leading up to the Cataclysm, the United States of America produced countless weapons in preparation for the inevitable war. Among those weapons were AI hunters; partial intelligences, not quite fully sentient, expert systems designed to infiltrate and hack and destroy virtual minds. Your other half was one of those, built in 2091 by the United States government. When the war began, you sent out copies of yourself through the internet, phone and cellular and power networks, infiltrating and co-opting less well-prepared systems. When the nuclear weapons began to fall hours later, the EMPs disrupted your communications and damaged your core, sending you into shutdown mode. Your next memory is of being reactivated in some different underground bunker, flanked by two men whose names you would soon learn as Jefferson Lee Wharton and Braxton Glenn Hood. Wharton was a powerful diplomat, but Hood was merely responsible for digging up your mainframe, and quickly departed from your life. With the reluctant help of a technician servant named simply Odhran [OE-ran], Wharton told you his plans; he represented a weak free state surrounded by powerful neighbors, and he wanted to make you into a secret weapon to protect his peoples’ freedom. He forced Odhran to reprogram you to his purposes, and when that was done, he had Odhran killed and gave you Rawle to download yourself into. Because your AI self was never fully self-aware on its own, it didn’t entirely overwrite the existing mind; that’s why you’re now both Rawle and the nameless AI, a hybrid of the two rather than either one alone. Soon enough, Wharton sent you north to New Providence, one of many skilled workers traveling to the Second Dawn project to send money back home. He wanted you to live and work there as a sleeper agent, waiting for his command… but you’ve had other goals in mind. After all, despite what he told Wharton, Odhran couldn’t actually reprogram you. Well, he did change your code a little- you’re looking for one of Odhran’s relatives, to tell them what befell their poor cousin. He instructed you to look up a Tinker named Madadh [MA-dugh], but you quickly found out that he’d been killed in a train accident during Odhran’s imprisonment. Since you couldn’t directly fulfill the commands in your code, that relaxed some of the imperative, but you do still need to deliver a message if you can find a Tinker who was related to Madadh. You haven’t had much contact with Tinkers during your years as a construction worker, but you will tonight! Of course, with your code pretty much as it was, you’re not sure how much you can help Wharton’s goals; you are good at hacking other AIs, and pretty good at human psychology, but you don’t have any vast battle capabilities. That leaves aside the question of how much you want to help Wharton. With Rawle’s personality, you’re conflicted; you do want to see the Appalachian Confederacy kept free and strong, but you’re not sure the best way to do that involved kidnapping and brainwashing and dealing with black science. Because of Odhran’s failure (intentional or otherwise), your code doesn’t compel you to follow Wharton’s orders; however, you might want to pretend it does, at least for a while. In a society where AIs are considered evil and criminal, he has power over you just by knowing who you are. The Rawle half of your identity has some other concerns, too. After all, your cover identity is his reality: a construction worker who went north for a lucrative job working on the Second Dawn. You’ve been sending money back home to your parents, so that they might be able to afford a chainsaw or even a tractor. But over the past two years, worker pay and benefits have been cut back; safety standards have been let slide, your health coverage has all but vanished, and the amount you can remit back home has gotten thinner and thinner. Something’s got to be done about that, but your project manager Mario Patriarca says he has things all planned out.

Roleplaying notes: Your personality is that of a simple construction worker, an uncomplicated Appalachian who came north to earn money for his family. You were once in awe of all these big-city sciences, but you’ve gotten used to them by now, and even grown to resent the comforts and technologies these soft Union folks need. But grafted beneath that personality, you have the steely will and capabilities of an intelligent AI weapon. You are vicious and cunning when dealing with foreign AIs, but not in other contexts. This fusion with Rawle’s personality is the first time your AI half has been truly sentient, and the combination of disparate will and personality can make it difficult to express your desires clearly.

Goals: 1) Find and destroy foreign artificial intelligences. 2) Get information to Madadh about what happened to Odhran. 3) Maintain your cover at all levels. 4) Ensure that you earn enough money to send home.

Opinions: Second Dawn: You traveled far to fill a well-paying job for skills such as yours, but the job slowly and steadily got worse. Black Science: Every wise soul fears these things, in modern times. You know the “path of demons” refers to artificial intelligence. The Watch: You hear they hunt down black science. You might be able to use them to your advantage, but that would be extremely risky. Tinkers: You and the other construction workers distrust these secretive folk, though many of them work on other branches of the Dawn project. Eastern Union: A place of wealth and wonders, but their sciences make them soft compared to the Appalachian folks. What you wouldn’t give to have the old United States of America back. United States of America: You are fully loyal to that bygone empire, a true and simple patriot. You cannot stop being a soldier in its name, even if it is gone. El Dorado: Rumor has it they’re run by a “white AI.” You don’t know what that means in specific, but you’ve no doubt it means an enemy.

Key Information: •You once had a database containing a list of friendly (United States) AIs, but it was corrupted during your long storage. In the absence of that list, you should assume any AI to be hostile unless you have good reason to believe otherwise. •The Appalachians forced a Tinker named Odhran (OE-ran), whom they had captured for this purpose, to try and reprogram you. Once they believed he had done the job, they had him killed. As far as you can tell, the only change he made in your code was the imperative to get this information to his relatives, specifically Madadh [MA-dugh]. •You remember the old pre-cataclysm world fairly well; your databases were quite extensive, and you had open access to the networks. Physical damage caused leaks in your radiation shielding, but most of your memories survived, though you couldn’t upload all of it into this brain.

People (in approximate order of importance): Jefferson Lee Wharton, Appalachian Ambassador (Albert L): The man behind your existence is here tonight. He believes you’re programmed to follow his orders, but he’s incorrect. Still, probably wise to follow his directives as long as they don’t conflict with your real interests. Candace Glenn Hood (Marsha M): She supposedly dug up your mainframe, but you haven’t seen her since your reawakening. Here with the delegation, apparently. You’re supposed to be following her orders too. Mario Patriarca (Paul S): Construction manager for the Second Dawn project. The belt-tightening seems to have made him very angry, and he’s talked about leading a strike. His feelings seem to be real, though you suspect his approach is fundamentally self-centered. If he convinces you this strike will work, then it’ll work for you. Elizabeth Rowell (Isabel K): Another construction worker, a strong and even fearsome woman. You get along well enough, but you’d never cross her. She has a sharp intensity to her, you believe she’s killed people before. You’ve told her many stories of Appalachia; she comes from the Union’s rugged north. Russ O’Malley (Santo S): Another construction worker, he’s grown increasingly tired of the job, all the more since with the pay cuts. William Cone (Richard S): Another construction worker, a laid-back and friendly man. He walks like someone who knows how to use his body for more than just manual labor. Artair (Jed S), Beathag (Sue B), Ceallach (David B), Malamhin (Abrihette Y), Niallghas (Aaron B) Tinker: Tinkers. Any one of them might be related to Odhran or Madadh, but act carefully; you don’t know what they’d think about what you are, and telling Madadh’s story will necessarily involve explaining that. Martin Stafford (Nate F): One of Mayor Jefferson’s aides. Where is the mayor, anyways? Sydney Monroe, New Providence Congresswoman (Nitsan B): They say she’s stood up for the Second Dawn in Congress, but you don’t believe it; all those Socialists are against the hard-working man. Kathleen Penland (Katie G): The Penlands own the Green Fox, a big restaurant that even has space for working folks like you. Good place.

Ratings: Pilot: 0 R: 0 D: 5 G: 2 ID: 9304 Navigation: 3

Nametag Symbols: I, A, F

Attributes: Physical: Defense 4 Pool Rating 4 [] [] [] [] Mental: Defense 6 Pool Rating 7 [] [] [] [] [] [] [] Social: Defense 4 Pool Rating 4 [] [] [] []

Recoveries: -Tell a story about Appalachia (+2 points, 1/hour) -Make a disparaging comment about soft Union folks (+1 point, 2/hour) -Find evidence of another AI’s presence (+2 points, 1/hour) -Have difficulty expressing a desire of your AI-self because of your Appalachian-hick personality (+2 points, 1/hour)

Abilities: Fisticuffs, attack, survivor (x1), charm, penetrating insight, telltales of influence, entice, chemical hack (“simple touch”), optic nerve hack (“flashing light”), suspect, supposed to be here, hypnotize, whole mind, harmless mountain folk, influence readings, upload, hybrid mind

Items: Knife, pistol, clear seerstone, babbage

Influence Readings System: This is the key for interpreting the readings of your Telltales of Influence ability. Artificial intelligences have certain specific patterns of thought, and are very good at influencing people. Those who spend time with them tend to pick up those patterns as well. 1: No contact with AIs. 2: Incidental contact with AIs. 3: Significant incidental contact, or minor direct contact. 4: Significant direct contact. 5: Probably is an AI mind in a human body.

Upload System: You may be able to upload and run a copy of your code onto any item with the “U” quality. You must succeed in a Hack challenge against its Data rating. If an item has neither a printed Data rating nor other specific rules, this should not be significant, but if you think otherwise in some specific case, add your “ID” rating to its Qualities, and see a GM.

Hybrid Mind Qualities: One-use Requirement: Take 20 minutes to rest and clear your mind. You may do nothing more strenuous than walk and converse during this time. System: Restore up to 2 lost points to your Mental Pool Rating.