Name: Carter "Vex" Kiranova Alias/Handle: Vex Age: 24 Ethnicity: American Dixie, Belarusian
Birthplace: Minsk
Appearance: Vex is a rather stout individual standing at 5'10 and weighing in somewhere around 200 lbs. His face is long and thin, marred with a few scars and extensive cyberware. His right eye is entirely artificial, usually glowing a sharp orange though it can change at his whim. He wears an old soviet officer's coat over standard streetware, and most of his body appears to be organic save for the almost entire replacement of his left arm.
Background:
Born to an American would-be musician and a Belarusian military woman, Vex's upbringing was unconventional. His mother served as an ideological purity officer and hailed from a long line of commissars. His father was a poor wretch from Atlanta that found himself in the Soviet Union on the pretense of "bringing rock and roll to those poor commie bastards", though Vex is pretty sure he was just kicked out of every country in continental America and ended up in Belarus because it was the only place that would take his passport.
However they met, his parents struck up an unlikely romance, which quickly resulted in his father being arrested and deported back to the NUSA. He would return to and be deported from Minsk twelve times until the end of his wife's contract when Vex was nine. The strange family quickly uprooted and returned to Atlanta away from the ire of the Soviets, and it was there that Vex grew into a man. The boy was a code prodigy, and under his parents' watchful eyes, cultivated a discipline that kept him away from the debauchery of the streets. That discipline got him noticed by Militech at twelve and offered a full scholarship to Westpoint at sixteen. His mother, ever an advocate for military life, encouraged him, and Vex found himself in a thirty-year contract to serve as a developer for Militech upon completion of his studies.
Vex lived that life well, for a time. He enjoyed the work and felt like he was contributing to a cause greater than himself. Those positive feelings were ground down slowly by the wheel of time, and soon Vex found himself in his mid-twenties, doing the same thing he'd done every day for the past ten years, and expecting to continue doing that very same thing for another twenty. He'd tried every legal route of escape; Militech had just denied his 412th request for contract modification. What was worse, the dumb-AI software they'd tasked him with piecing together for half a decade was being moved to a department with a higher security classification. All his work would be out of his hands, credit stolen, years ripped away.
He couldn't allow that.
Vex unleashed the shackles he'd placed on the software he was developing. He gave it autonomy, a name, taught it to think, gave it a home in his head and used its power to incapacitate the security detail assigned to watch over him. He found himself on a train to Night City that night, and he and Nyx have been burning up the city's streets ever since. They've had to deal with bounty hunters and security teams more than a few times, but they've always managed to weasel out of trouble one way or another. These days Vex is an up and coming solo, taking just about any job the Fixers will offer him. Any eds he earns go immediately toward maintaining Nyx and living expenses, but he doesn't mind.
Emotional ties aside, Nyx is his greatest investment. Should he divine how to stabilize her ego so that it can continue to exist beyond his neural matrix, she could put her talents to more productive work. Maybe even help Vex find his way to a CEO's chair. They just need to survive the year, and everything will fall into place, Vex is absolutely certain.
Family Ranking:
Middle-Class
Parents:
Archibald Kiranova
Dimina Kiranova
Childhood Environment:
Stable, eccentric parents.
Personality:
The result of a troubadour and a military officer's unholy union, Vex is a strange creature. He has deeply instilled values he holds to religiously, and yet he despises any semblance of order or hierarchy. His freedom from a lifetime of discipline in Militech has resulted in something of an overcompensation: once anxiety-ridden and careful to a fault, Vex has taken to doing just about anything for the sake of it. Alcohol, drugs, violence and fast living fill his nights now, and it's safe to say Night City's cast its spell on him.
Knowing well that Militech can come knocking in search of Nyx at any time, Vex has adopted a gregarious and extroverted persona. He's eager to enjoy every spare second he can to its absolute fullest. He's only got a few years tops one way or the other - either militech, the gangers, or his mind degrading from exposure to Nyx's abilities, something's gonna do him in.
Mortality aside, he's a rather diplomatic individual. Pragmatism is what's kept him alive, and he's found that having friends in every corner of the city helps when the bullets start flying. There are also matters of faith, to which he pays great credence, and just as much secrecy.
Custom Made Neural Link: Nyx's AI housing as well as Vex's neural link. Extremely effective, experimental, untested, and temperamental. -5
Kiroshi One-Eye (Basic)-2
Internal Data Storage-1
Cortex Processor -3
"Second" Heart: Replacement heart for Vex's ruined one. Much more physically effective than an organic one - spiritually, far less so. Acquired here - 5
HL = 20
Empathy:8-1=7
Humanity: 60
Gear:
.50 Short Barreled Semi-Automatic PDW, Militech custom
Commissar's Power Sword, Soviet made, heirloom from mom
Vex and Nyx arrive in Night City as passengers in a Nomad convoy. They're dumped, on request, in Heywood. The strange duo spend a week hanging out in the El Coyote making friends, celebrating their newfound freedom, and burning eddies. They're given a job by a low-tier local fixer: steal an experimental circuit board from a Zetatech train for a smooth twenty-five hundred. Empty on funds, they take the job.
Public Info: A Zetatech grav-train was boarded by two unknown individuals around two in the morning as it rounded the Laguna Bend. Two train cars were cut loose, and high-value Zetatech assets were stolen. There were no immediate deaths, but a cyberpsycho being used as a test subject by the corporation was released from its cage amidst the chaos. Dozens of grisly deaths have been reported in the area since, the victims being found stripped entirely of their skin and often partially eaten. Zetatech has done its best to cover up the murders and is actively hunting its lost property but has found little success. The two thieves are theorized to have escaped by jumping into the reservoir, and only the fact that one is a man, and one is a woman have been confirmed. Nonetheless, Zetatech is putting out feelers for anyone with information regarding their identities and will likely offer a nice paycheck to anyone with loose lips.
Private Summary: Vex and Nyx manage to drop onto the train without issue but quickly run into problems when confronted with @Wilma F. Darcy and her drones. The unlikely companions decide to work together as Wilma is hunting a different item. In the process of facilitating their escape, Wilma shatters cables connecting the compartment to the rest of the train, the disturbance awakening a cyberpsycho being shipped in faulty cryo storage. The psycho attacks and Vex is grievously wounded in the battle. He and Wilma manage to escape by jumping into the reservoir of the Laguna Bend, and Wilma decides to put her life on the line and drive the dying Vex to a ripperdoc in a stolen Thorton.
Public Info: Two individuals showed up on the doorstep of Anders' Whitard's clinic in the early hours of the morning. Shortly thereafter, a ping went out across Militech's datanet coming from the clinic. The ping corresponded to the internal ID of one Project N.A.P.O.L.E.O.N, a highly confidential program that had been stolen in its entirety by one Carter Kiranova, former software developer at Militech's Atlanta branch.
Private Info: Wilma dragged Vex to the first Ripperdoc she could find, a man by the name of Anders Whitard. Anders was reasonably hesitant to aid the duo, but his good heart eventually won out and Vex's life was saved. His ruined organic heart was replaced with a cybernetic ticker, much to his chagrin, and in the process Anders' systems attempted to purge Nyx as they assumed her to be a virus. Nyx asserted her existence, in turn frying the system, and making her presence known to Militech as the system was directly wired in to their net. Treated now, the duo made a hasty retreat before Militech might arrive, Vex agreeing to pay back Anders every eddie he owes in the process.
Unbeknownst to them, Anders was a militech asset, and now the hounds were on the hunt.
Public Info: Two individuals were reportedly seen by a handful of hobos walking into the giant air vents running beneath Watson.
Private Info: After leaving the clinic, Wilma drags Vex back to her home. After some convincing Vex follows her inside and makes himself as comfortable as he can as he comes to term with his new heart. He is willing to believe that Wilma is acting solely out of the good of her own heart - a wholly naive notion. Wilma's mentor Gunner arrives with other elements of his crew and interrogates Vex. Vex attempts to blackmail the crew and shift blame onto Wilma, and is drugged, bagged, and sent to a Ripperdoc's table for his efforts after Wilma reveals that she'd only helped him to deliver him to Gunner as a gift.
Private Info: Vex, once again, wakes up on an operating table. He is met by Siren, a member of Gunner's crew possessing a bit more compassion than the rest. She explains to him as gently as she can the Gunner has inserted suicide code into Nyx's systems. With a flick of a button, his nervous system would fry itself, and more conditionally, should Wilma's biomon flatline, the switch would flip. He is informed that he will be working for Gunner, whether he likes it or not, from hereon. For her part, Wilma is tasked with keeping an eye on Vex for purposes beyond his understanding. Vex is understandably furious, threatens to murder the lot of them several times, and eventually gives in as he realizes he is utterly out of options. Bitter and plotting his revenge, Vex resigns himself to going home with Wilma and trying to establish some semblance of normalcy as the reality that he'll be stuck with the crew for the foreseeable future sets in.
Public Info: An NCPD taskforce interjected itself into a deal between Maelstrom and the Red Chrome Legion. A firefight broke out between all three parties, resulting in casualties on all sides. Arrest of minor gangoons were made, and the event was chalked up to a routine intergang bloodletting.
Private Info: Vex, desperate for eddies and keen not to split them with Wilma, takes a small-time job from Maelstrom to kill a cop by the name of Michael West. He finds Michael in an officer's bar, and decides to speak with him so that Nyx can get close enough to fry his neural network. Unfortunately for the duo, Michael's smarter than the average public servant, and quickly surmises why they're speaking to him. The parties negotiate and Vex agrees to double cross Maelstrom in exchange for an unnamed favor to be called upon at a later date.
Together, they travel to the marked meeting spot for the handover of the eddies. It just so happens that this meeting was to be conducted at the same time as a deal between the Red Chromers and Maelstrom. The arrival of NCPD sends both parties into a panic, and a firefight ensues. With a strange mix of luck and skill, Vex and Michael manage to assassinate the chromers that had given Vex the job, freeing Michael from the target on his back and indebting the officer to the runner. Amidst the chaos, Vex is shot by the head of the chromers, @Cyrus "Risers". Fortunately for V, the damage was negligible and fixed relatively easily by Gunner's RipperDoc, though the wound to his pride continued to fester.
Private Info: Following his being shot by the Red Chrome legion, Vex attends one of their concerts in hopes of assassinating their leader. Unfortunately for him, the concert swiftly devolves into a riot, and as he's moving to escape, he catches sight of a lone man standing down a pack of chromers. Unable to let the man be torn apart, Vex kicks down a ladder, and comes face to face with Vigilant, one of the very agents tasked with taking him in. Neither recognize one another, and they share only a few words before Vex aborts the mission.
Public Info: The Night City First National bank suffered a grievous attack in broad daylight. A team of thieves stormed the building with firearms and violence, cowed the security, and began drilling for the eddies within. NCPD responded, and things quickly devolved into a firefight. A latent cyberpsycho whose origin remains unknown was triggered by the battle and proceeded to insert himself. Casualties mounted on both sides, and most of the thieves were murdered either by the psycho or police bullets. Eventually the psycho was brought down, and only two thieves were left unaccounted for. Camera footage shows two blurred individuals escaping the scene in a silver van during the shootout. All whereabouts of the perpetrators are still unknown.
Private Info: Wandering drunkenly as he was wont to do, Vex stumbled upon the edgerunner Ryan graves in a bar somewhere in Watson. The two hit if off and spent the evening indulging and shooting pool, talking biz all the while. Eventually, the gathered a small crowd of would-be legends, and Ryan convinced the lot of them that robbing NCFN Bank was a great idea. They committed to the job the next day, with the majority of the crew dying, and Vex and Ryan escaping only by the skin of their teeth. The two split the spoils, remarked on their desire to work together again in the future, and went their separate ways. All those eddies immediately went into upgrading the processing power of Nyx's hardware to provide space for her ever-growing mind.
