Appearance: A large troll (whoever heard of a small one?!?) carrying a nasty looking halberd with engravings of a mystical sort.

History: The firstborn son of an affluent Chinese family,Samuel Wei-jin Chang grew up knowing the luxuries of upper class life. Living high in the risers away from what his father called the Scum of the Sprawl, he never was in want. The opposite in fact were true. As an infant, the elven maid would come running at his every cry, and his needs provided, desires catered, and wishes fulfilled. The boy learned quickly of power and control. Samuel was also taught the "basics" of living by his parents during these tender years -- such things as how to eat properly with chopsticks, standing tall, and studying hard. Desiring to pass on his experience to the younger ones, from an early age his father would bring him along with his younger brother and sister to the social occassions with Fuchi International and Sony Cybersystems, his father's largest business partners.

When it was discovered during a routine entrance examination for the private pre-school enrollment that he had the seeds of magic, the celebration at the house was grander than at the announcement of his birth! The best magical tutorship was hired to foster the ability, and Samuel quickly showed himself not only to be a voracious learner of the theroies, but also extremely skilled in the ways of manipulating the powers. It was during these training "sessions" which often lasted days, that self-control was added to his arsenal.

2044 was the year. When Samuel began growning and his voice began changing, his family assumed it was early puberty for the 9 year old. In fact, his father increased the magical tutoring for his son for it was common knowledge that during those years not only did the physical body begin to grow, but so did the innate magics present in children -- and with the powers that had already manifested, the potential was enormous! However, as his face began to become misshapen and the boy continued to grow so did the suspicions. Yet, it was impossible that the boy could be anything but human -- there was not once trace of tainted blood in the family line. The change was evident enough though, and the private tutoring sessions which started out as gifts from a proud father turned into prison to isolate the youth from "normal" humanity. The family visits to the training lodge where he had gone for advanced studies decreased. As did the vid calls. In time, the denials could not stand against the fact that the boy's body started to appoach and surpass his father's bodyguards in size and muscle. In December of that year, upon returning for the holiday celebrations, he was turned away at the lobby of the skyscraper his family owned. Screaming for his father brought the aged man down who looked at the boy, and told the guards that he didn't "recognize this thing." The sight of the 2.5 meter 9 year old troll crying in the lobby attracted the attention of the guards who were tasked with "removing the Scum". Samuel ran.

He ran all night until he was back at the site of the tutor's lodge, where he was informed that the line of credit was cancelled and no further training could occur without more funds.

He ran from the private sector security who chased him from his warm sleeep next to the furnances. He ran from the normals who were repulsed at his sight. He ran from the go-gangs who were looking for a trophy the size of a troll head. He ran until he could run no more and chased no more. That was when he was found by Wraith, the leader of the Spectres. They were known as the whiz go-gang, and most of the other gangs gave a wide berth and more respect to them then one'd expect for such a small crew. Under their protection, the young boy learned to survive the streets and use his abilities in a different way.

With the Spectres, Sam often went along on various "jobs" for the occasion corp who needed a team low laying enough that they would go to Puyallup to use a gang. After a while, Sam, or the Grim Reaper as he became to be called started taking out "independent contracts." As his experience running the shadows grew, so did his reputation as being a subtle yet ultimately efficacious asset -- either alone or part of an elite team. Runners have also begun to give The Reaper respect for his stubborness in refusing to "cross-over" to work for the corps. Rather, he is known as being particularly ruthless against the large corps that he is contracted against, going out of his way to hurt them, whether it be in their finances or their reputation. For those "in the know" he is also notoriously willful (or stubborn, depending on who you ask) -- which may be one reason he always finishes what he sets his mind on.

Of the official records that's been compiled of The Reaper, he is known to be a part of the Spectres in Puyallup and to use magic extensively. In addition he has been seen to have a wide breadth of magical talent from knowledge to usage, theory to history, although how he acquired such information leads many to believe he is corp trained. In particular, it is known that he prefers to spend much of his time in Astral space meeting with other Awakened souls in "social meets". Attempts at "personel pruning" while in that realm have proven to be universally unsuccessful.

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Game: Shadowrun is a great cyberpunk type of game. Like other games in the genre, it sets out to examine what humanity really is and the role of corporations in daily life. It's a way of examing ourselves through the use of a setting far in the future. The Reaper is a runner in the trouble times of 2061 when Seattle has been occupied with UCAS forces. Read up on our game here.