Cr4nk
Ms. Lijuan Kao (a.k.a. "Cr4nk")
Written by: Null Kit
It's commonly accepted that most Shadowrunners start at the bottom of their societal hierarchy. Criminals, vagrants, marginalized identities, and those few that had a legit SiN were usually near the bottom of the corporate totem-pole, taking orders instead of making them. But every now and then, someone from the high life slips through the cracks and finds themselves in our honored occupation of shooting strangers in the face for money for a myriad of reasons. Lijuan Kao is one of such people, having given up a cushy existence riding her father's coattails at General Motors for a life of outrunning police and rigging customised drones, not for any noble or tragic purpose but simply for a love of the chase. Cr4nk has strong ties to the Metal Corsairs smuggling-group but is for all intents and purposes a freelancer, selling her services as a getaway driver, smuggler and general rigger to any job that meets her mercurial standards for a 'fun time' and spending the money on an ever growing collection of heavily modified vehicles kept in an as-of-yet unknown facility in the outer regions of Raleigh. Personal advice: Buckle up tight, lest you chip a tooth on a tight corner.Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Barring extensive cyberware implants to facilitate rigger control-systems, reflex enhancements and cosmetic procedures, Lijuan's physique is that of a typical, albeit sedentary human in her early twenties.
We're gonna ignore she's had cosmetic surgery to look like an elf?
I'm trying to, as hard as possible.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Lijuan Kao is to much of the public a name of little significance, but her mother Xiurong is something of a large name in her niche of vehicle-software design, having been a major contributor to the various launch-control systems found in most GM vehicles today. Lijuan was evidentally groomed to be her successor in these fields, having been present from a young age in various showroom tests and demonstrations of her mother's latest computerised driving-tools on the newest models of luxury and sports vehicles, child-friendly pamphlets given and carried by the handful. Lijuan showed some interest in her mother's contributions, but it was ultimately the cars themselves that caught and held her attention for good.
Not to say she dropped Xiurong's teachings entirely. The old lady's social-media posts still show Lijuan being included in her old lady's coding sprees.Having procured a provisional license and the preperations for Rigger cybernetics from the very earliest respective legal ages, Lijuan's teenage years were a non-stop cloud of speeding cars, dented fenders and speeding-tickets, the former two financed by her trust-fund and the latter dealt with by a mother who didn't want such imperfections marring her dearest daughter's reputation and employment opportunities.
If the girl herself is to be believed, her mom covering up all those misdemeanor charges would partly motivate her eventual turn to the shadows, desiring to risk actual consequences for her actions without the safety-net of a privileged family-name.Driving beaters in emptied lots and unoccupied test-tracks would lead to driving sponsor-riddled tuners in corporate-approved youth races through heavily monitored tracks, but neither did much to curb Lijuan's desire to escalate. At age 19, she was arrested in downtown Raleigh by Lone Star for illegal street-racing, and so many photos and recorded trids made it out into social-media that no amount of Xiurong loudly questioning if the chief of police knew who she was could solve the situation. Lijuan was temporarily revoked of her license, and told that her next offence could lead to permanent disbarring of driving privileges. Publically, Lijuan stayed on the straight and narrow since the incident, despite acquiring a positive reputation on social-media of being a 'rebellious princess'. Coincidentally however, a street-racer hidden behind a polychromatic facemask made her way into Raleigh's underground scene under the alias 'Cr4nk', starting in the Metal Corsairs and taking on any job that needed fast wheels and arriving on the scene with heavily modified coupes and drones that even veteran runners would struggle to budget towards. Who knows, maybe the two know eachother?
Education
Lijuan is a high-school graduate from Needham B. Broughton high, and is currently persuing a degree in Engineering from North Carolina State University.
Employment
Officially unemployed, but lined up for multiple potential internships at General Motors. Unofficially employed 'full-time' as a shadowrunner and smuggler.
Accomplishments & Achievements
On top of numerous awards and accolades for participating and winning various corporate youth car-racing events, Cr4nk holds a specific accolade for her involvement in the heist against Universal Omnitech, outrunning and losing multiple seperate units of HTR persuit-vehicles in an unmodified sedan after the scheduled getaway vehicle was unexpectedly clamped.
Failures & Embarrassments
Lijuan's arrest and subsequent temporary ban from driving reminds something of a black mark on her reputation that both legitimate and underground communities refuse to let her forget.
I mean Homegirl did crash into a foodstall. When does that ever happen outside of trids?
Mental Trauma
None known.
Morality & Philosophy
As 'Cr4nk', Lijuan proudly professes an entirely self-centered attitude, putting priority on her own thrill-seeking desires over any concept of morality. Her peers however, claim this to merely be ignorance and a lack of understanding of the potential harm she poses to cause to others.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Lijuan's professed motivations are to sate her perpetually escalating desires of thrill-seeking by participating in high-risk driving/rigging contracts.
Savvies & Ineptitudes
In spite of her inexperience, Cr4nk has demonstrated herself to be a very capable driver, showing equally high degrees of competance driving manually and when 'jumped' in through rigging interfaces, and showing particular expertise in high-speed pursuit, both chasing and avoiding. As a Rigger, Cr4nk shows a strong preference towards personally overseeing a smaller number of expertly-customised drones over larger numbers seen in 'swarm' oriented riggers. Her afformented lack of experience however, has reportedly amounted to an inability to meaningfully contribute to combat-situations as a result of 'freezing up' when hostilities commence, an issue that should be rectified along with her general ineptitude with firefights in general with time, should she survive.
Current Location
Year of Birth
2058
22 Years old
Children
Pronouns
She/Her
Eyes
Brown
Hair
Black
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Tanned
Height
6'1''
Weight
156 lb.
Aligned Organization
Appears in...
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