Step #1: Places and Faces

I want characters (thus players) to have a vested interest in the story we will be playing through. To that end I am asking each of you to go through a modified version of City Generation form the Dresden Files game that also uses the Fate System. Obviously I have laid a lot of groundwork already by placing the city and describing it's five larger Districts.

Before you can have your character approved you must create a "Place" or "Face" that your character will care about. Ideally you will create an Aspect for your character that reflects this tie. I will be weaving these elements into the story and making them important, so make it good.

You may establish your Place and Face in any of the districts you choose as long as the things you choose make sense for that district. For example, you will not find the corporate headquarters for a multinational tech company in Southend. Nor will you find a housing project (or ghetto) in Brendan Harbor. You might find a biker bar that is still clinging to it's Uptown address, barely making the rent payments every month that is dealing with a pushy landlord who is looking to sell the property to developers, or a 3-star restaurant run by a formerly famous chef on the south side of City Center.

Enigma Systems

Enigma Systems is a medium-sized, successful company, working out of a two-floor office on the edge of Uptown. The company provides data and system security solutions for several of the larger companies and banks of the district, and prided itself on its quality of service and discreteness. Prided - past tense, as things have gone badly for the company in the last six weeks. Among the many mutations which have appeared, some have enhanced malicious data crackers' activities a thousandfold, and Enigma has found it nigh-on impossible to keep up with the massive pressure on almost all of its clients' systems. While it is clear that some of the attacks have come from outside the Uptown community - people trying to hijack massive bank accounts for example - at least some of the attacks seem to be industrial espionage between Uptown companies. Enigma's only asset in the fight has been Dave, a previously middle-of-the-road member of staff whose own mutations have allowed him to stop at least some of the attacks, sometimes using his enhanced cognitive abilities, and sometimes with his weirder powers.

Related aspect:Super-powered cyber-crime

All suggestions welcome, up to and including veto - I really value the cooperative side of Fate.

This is great. One thing you are missing is the "Face" for Enigma. You can still work there, but there needs to be a "contact" person with Enigma as well. This could be anybody, your direct supervisor, the CEO, even the secretary. Someone your character has a relationship of some kind. You don't need any more details than you want to, just something to work off of

OK, how about this:

Face: admin-x

In the last six weeks, with the massive workload Dave has had at Enigma Systems, one name keeps cropping up again and again: admin-x. Of all the recent bout of super powered crackers, admin-x seems to be the most cunning, and the most powerful. So far Dave has had some success shutting admin-x out of systems where he shouldn't be, but had an equal number of failures. The last two times, it was almost as if admin-x was waiting for Dave to turn up on the cyber scene...

Place: Sailor's Nightlight

A small island about three miles off the coast of Fuller city. The old Fuller City Lighthouse here has been abandoned for nearly 30 years. Izaac spent much of his childhood on this island, running away from home to camp out in the lighthouse. Ever since it has been his go to place whenever he needed to be alone. It's were he came when his parents died, when he was diagnosed with cancer, and where he spent several days coming to grips with his new powers. It's quiet, and that's an uncommon asset these days. (Aspect: A place to hide)

Face: Amelia Cain

Amelia is Izaac's little sister. She was only 12 when their parents died, and only a year later Izaac was diagnosed with cancer. Izaac being her only family left, there was no one to take care of her. While Izaac was undergoing treatment, she was adopted by one of her teachers. Now 17, she's Izaac's anchor to reality. She's the most important thing to him in the world right now. (Aspect: Big Brother)

I think this is very interesting. Just a few questions to make sure you and I have the same picture here. admin-x is a cyber criminal who has left this name as sort of his digital finger print? Dave has no idea who this person is or what their motives are, correct? You are giving me free reign to build this persons true nature?

What kind of crimes have they been attempting? You mentioned stealing money electronically from clients of Enigma. Who would these clients be? You don't have to be super specific just give me a general idea of what kind of businesses would contract out their IT security. Big banks would keep it internal (I would think) but I could see businesses that are growing or restructuring might look for outside help. Then again I've never worked in these fields and have no first hand knowledge. And its our world so we can make up the rules if we want.

So, a few more details on who Enigma works for and what you had in mind for admin-x along the limes of the questions I asked and I will be happy with this.

Very interesting building blocks you've given me here. But as I will do with everyone, I have a few questions to ask just to get a direction form you.

The Lighthouse- How did Izaac learn of the lighthouse? Was/is it a tourist spot? The island can't be to large being out in the middle of Lake Michigan. The lake is over 100 miles wide, but in real life it is pretty open, specifically in the region we are playing in. How did Isaac avoid being seen? There are two districts it might belong to, Waterfront or Brendon Harbor. Which would you think it belongs to?

Izaac learned of the lighthouse in school during history class. Every year the local elementary schools do a little week long event where they focus on the history of Fuller City. The island is closer to the Waterfront area of the city. It's not in use anymore because newer charts have made it unnecessary and the lights from the city are much brighter anyway. Izaac usually leaves the coast on a kayak early in the morning when the lake is covered in fog to avoid being seen. It's not exactly legal for people to be on the island, but no one is actually there to keep people off so it's a bit of a moot point.

Place: Rooftop Coop of Delroy "Panama" Sampson
Face: Delroy "Panama" Sampson

Delroy is a brawny 60 year old electrician who calls himself Panama after his country of birth. Unlike other rooftop fliers that would keep and breed pigeons, Delroy focused on crows. He would always say, "a crow that knows you are good will be a friend for life." When The Warp was young and still known by his name of Clarence, he found solace from the crime and cramped nature of Southend by taking to the rooftops. He would often jump from one to another which eventually led him to his first encounter with Delroy. Delroy near about whooped the young boy when climbed up and over and gave the aging tenant of this particular Southend brownstone a half of a heart attack. Once the two got talking though, Delroy could see the boy was confused about a good deal in life. Always trying to get away from his problems, Clarence envied the crows their ability to fly away whenever they wanted. Delroy took young Clarence under his wing and began to teach the boy how to keep and care after the crows. He would also give him folksy wisdom to help keep him out of gangs and off the street but Delroy was never sure if he made a difference. After the event, after Clarence became The Warp, he would still visit Delroy and the birds, one of the few places that could convince him that he was, somewhere deep within his experience, still human.

(Aspect: Birdkeeping)
(Aspect: Streetwise Mentor)

Did I do this right?

It's a really cool description, and lots of story potential, but AFAIK it's only been 6 weeks since we all became metahumans, so you might want to tweak the chronology a bit.

This is good. It has a lot of good story hooks I think I can use. But Harlandski is right about the way you worded the last bit. It has only been six weeks and the way that last paragraph sounds is that it has been quite some time. Now for a being that can see the quantum connections of life, six weeks could be an eternity and the blink of an eye all at the same time...

As long as it is clear that the time spent visiting Panama since the change hasn't been that long we are good.

I think the event has changed this street kid in a huge way and the way he experiences time is similar to Dr. Manhattan i.e. all at once. I can keep tweeking since I'm not entirely convinced I like this backstory yet. I was really trying to incorporate both pictures. Without his clothes, he's a mess of human shaped cosmic energies. He wears his old clothes to hide what he is. I liked the crows too. But ultimately, I saw this street kid that was so changed by the experience and his conciousness being stretched to the utter limit that he no longer relates to the person he was before. Coming back to the coop at least brings back some memories of the person he was.

That's funny that you mentioned Dr. Manhattan because that was what I thought you were kind of going for. I mentioned in my post in the Step #2 thread that I just put up while you were posting here.

I think the story is fine but it if you want to tweak it by adding some details or change it completely that's fine. I'm fine with him having a messed up scale of time, as long as we all understand that is the issue and Work hasn't actually had his powers for longer than the others.

Yes, he's left his name although it is not necessary or even advisable to do so, but he/she is being flashy, like Zorro. And yes, at present Dave knows very little, and so you have a free hand to develop admin-x to fit the stories we tell.
I have no idea about the business or technical sides of this in reality, but would it be more or less plausible to say that Enigma Systems' clients tend to be small family banks, who have had to come up to date and computerize their systems against their better judgement, and bespoke boutiques who don't want to employ a full time IT person, but still need to offer their clients options to pre-order, and possibly pay, online? That would also provide some classic superhero tropes whilst putting an internet spin on them. As I said Enigma Systems is based on the edge of Uptown. Maybe in the older part of that district, where some of the private banks and boutiques are?

@harlandski - These additions are great. I think you might have created the first Supervillain of this world. Not the first Bad Guy, I've got a roster of low level guys for you all to beat up and put in jail. admin-x will be more on the scale of Kingpin, Dr. Doom, Lex Luther and The Joker...real bad guys with long term plans.

If you want to look at the first two members of your rogues gallery, I put them in the character library. They are named Starpower and Fade.