Everything

Up the ladder, away from the unwashed masses, typically ensconced in a corner office or some other place of privilege, you’ll find the folks who make the world go ‘round. Brokers, politicians, bankers, producers, executives of one stripe or another… these are the people whose incomes start at six figures and head skyward from there. With money and power, they shape our world, and though a handful of them command Enlightened hypertech, most of them simply know how to use vast resources to their best advantage.

The technological world is, for better and worse, run by these people. Their decisions reach beyond the boardrooms to encompass government policies and global economies. The coffee farmer in Lake Valencia and the factory worker in Tianjin have their lives determined (and occasionally ruined or ended) by power players in New York, Tokyo, Bangalore, and Moscow. Sadly, people at such levels of influence rarely see the human fallout of their actions. To them, the bottom line involves their corporate reports and the bank accounts that sustain their prosperity.

It’s easy, especially from the lower levels of society, to view such people as faceless evil sociopaths. Speaking frankly, some of them are; corporate culture is innately sociopathic, and its only real concern is the effect its actions have upon the corporation’s profits or losses. For the people in those boardrooms, though, life as we know it hinges on those big decisions that only highly qualified people can make. These are big-picture folks whose profession depends upon combining the vast scale of international effects with the intimate scope of private business meetings. In their view, prosperity for all must be built on the prosperity of an elite. The common man or women is an idiot, incapable of turning off the most vapid of TV shows long enough to learn how the modern world really works. Elitism aside, some power players really are interested in advancing the common good in ways that might not benefit them personally. Philanthropists might not be as common as raiders, but they actually do exist. For such people, wealth and influence are a means toward a much greater goal.

Knowledge and influence are the cornerstones of any power player’s life. While manual laborers excel at Physical Traits, power players dominate through Skills and Knowledges. Sharp wits and complex topics are the power player’s purview, and though such characters enjoy generous Background Traits (often Social Merits and Flaws as well), they secure and retain those perks through Social and Mental Attributes and vigorously cultivated people skills. Oh, sure, the executive gym lets a power player get into decent shape and stay that way. The real power in today’s world, though, comes not from strength of arm but through force of personality.

Despite luxurious offices and sumptuous lifestyles, power players work hard to get and keep what they have. Fourteen-hour days are par for the course at this level of success, and so the pleasures they’re able to catch between high-stakes meetings and tedious paperwork tend to involve high-octane thrills compressed into short bursts of vigorous excitement. Thus, many young power players boast high degrees of Athletics, and even the older ones can beat the average person at a young kid’s game. Such people work hard and play hard, sometimes with “games” that are highly illegal and deeply unethical. Power, as they’ll tell you, has a morality all its own, and those who can’t make the hard calls in this world will never understand the lives of those who do.

Suggested Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3, Charisma 3-5, Manipulation 3-5, Appearance 2-4, Perception 3, Intelligence 3-5, Wits 4

Suggested Abilities: Academics 3, Athletics 2-3, Computer 2-4, Cultural Savvy 3-5, Drive 1, Etiquette 3-5, Expression 2-5, Finance 3-5, Law 2-5, Leadership 1-4, Politics 3-5, Seduction 1-3, Technology 3

Willpower: 5-7

Health Levels: OK, ‒1, ‒1, ‒2, ‒2, ‒5, Incapacitated

Equipment: Expensive stylish clothing, high-end accessories (wallets, jewelry, business cards, phone, etc.), credit cards and expense accounts, a staff of people ready to do whatever you tell them to do.

Image: Power is all about making an impression. Thus, power players cultivate high-end fashions that usually don’t look high-end; people who actually do look high-end are trying too hard. Tailored clothes, stylish haircuts, just the right amount of shaving (or lack thereof) and cosmetics (or lack thereof) set the tone for class and distinction. The specifics depend on culture, field, and fashion, of course, but unless the power player is flaunting their ability to be eccentric — which is a valid fashion choice — such people tend to be extremely well-groomed and well-dressed in ways that accentuate their innate charisma and their position in the field without making too obvious a statement.

Roleplaying Notes: Make it look easy. This level of status is never as simple as mere wealth, but the more relaxed you seem, the more competent you appear. Granted, there are times to show people who’s boss around here. Save those moments, though, for extreme and often private situations. Public displays of temper make you look weak; instead, use politesse and misdirection to accomplish your goals. Use whomever you need to use, with whichever tactics seem most effective within the bounds of taste. Never appear to struggle even when you are struggling. Exceptional people never seem to sweat.

Lenora Paige Wilder

“I’m not just giving it you,” her father said. “You have to show me you’ve earned it.” Lenora’s parents owned half the town where she grew up, and her father maintained a warehouse whose only purpose involved sheltering his collection of antique cars. Yet despite a sizable family fortune, Lenora went to public school, endured a tight allowance, and grew up following her parents around their offices, learning various trades before going to business school herself. By the time she hit college, Lenora had already begun one home-based business of her own. By the time she graduated summa cum laude, that business was bringing in over a million dollars a year and employing half of her high-school friends. Eventually inheriting her parents’ business too, Lenora became a major player in regional commerce and politics. She has indeed showed her father than she could earn their trust, respect, and wealth.

Now in her early 40s, Lenora heads a major tech firm in the American south — a firm she hopes to use as a springboard for a Silicon Valley alternative. VisoTech International aims to break through the current limitations of tech-industry culture, both through diverse hiring practices and by way of the visionary technology that inspires the corporate name. Lenora has an eye for talent, and though she’s not Enlightened in the technomancer sense, she can spot potential when she sees it. Thus, VisoTech employs a clutch of Awakened personnel who work toward advancements in Sleepertech that can soon bring Enlightened hypertech further into the mainstream than it already is.

Lenora herself is no mage, and would consider that idea absurd. Instead, she’s a dedicated and sometimes ruthless businesswoman whose relentless work ethic extends to the folks in her employ. She demands near-perfection from herself, she and expects it from her staff as well. Hours are long but pay and benefits are good, especially for the impoverished area where VisoTech makes its home. Her HR department has no patience for nonsense, and offenders against company policy are shown the door in short order. Lenora herself practically lives in her office, and the company’s gyms and overnight bedrooms are based on her own devotion to a “whatever it takes” managerial approach. Ms. Wilder gives her all to the company, and she expects her people to do the same.

A fierce-eyed woman of Nordic and Mediterranean heritage, Lenora has freckled pale skin, short red hair, and the chiseled arms and shoulders of a veteran color-guard performer who works out constantly. Her understated, business-casual attire sets the tone for VisoTech’s office culture: casual yet professional, unconstrained yet never slovenly. Despite her obvious southern accent, she can talk circles around any west coast elitist … and often does so, too. She enjoys baiting would-be rivals into underestimating her intellect, then destroying them with superior technical knowledge and a dazzling grasp of strategy. Lenora can play the girly-girl when it suits her, then snap without warning into executive predator mode. Her acumen for reading people and then leading them to advantageous conclusions helps keep VisoTech near the head of a very competitive field. Thanks to her parents’ connections (and wealth), Lenora often calls the shots with state and local politicians despite her gender and comparative youth. That status, combined with her quick mind and savvy tactics, plus the growing rep enjoyed by her corporation, makes Lenora Paige Wilder a person of influence in her region and field of expertise. The fact that she has no real time for any sort of social life is a subject of some speculation among her peers; as far as Lenora’s concerned, however, she’s got too much shit to do. When folks ask, “Hon, when you gonna get married?” Lenora just laughs and replies, “Maybe in the next life.”