Vulcan Gravy

Mr. Eric Lurie

Written by: Null Kit

It goes without saying that shadowrunning is an enterprise that rewards subtlety, that in understanding the value of remaining inconspicuous and minimizing collateral damage, you can achieve far more with far less. It also goes without saying that no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and that open, armed conflict is not only a perpetual risk but outright inevitable in your career. Eric Lurie, alias 'Vulcan Gravy', is one who greatly values the latter whilst all but ignoring the former.
Having embedded himself in the good graces of many of Raleigh's arms-dealers, this ex-marine turned anarchist takes a profane yet admirable pride in his role as a shadowrunning team's dedicated firearms specialist, spending an innordinate amount of his earnings in expanding his arsenal of milspec firearms and cyberware to perfect his killing art. The man is no stranger to stealth and subtlety, but makes it quite clear that trusting such matters to him in lieu of overwhelming fire-support is a waste of his talents. If that is acceptable to you, then you will not find Mr. Lurie wanting.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Mr. Lurie's state of health is as one would expect from a succesfull but heavily modified veteran of Azania's conflicts, posessing numerous high grade but years-obsolete pieces of milspec cyberware (augmented with newer components from recent mercenary work), along with a myriad of bodily scarring from various conflicts that do little to impede his physical abilities, despite regular complaints of chronic pain.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Eric Lurie was born in the Tshwane Metroplex of South Africa, to parents Andrew and Jonas Lurie. Much of what could be recovered of his upbringing was marked with numerous incidents of involvement, volunterily or otherwise, with delinquence and gang-activity, such was the reality of many youths in the lower economic brackets of Tshwane. Despite this, Lurie managed to achieve a GED equivalent qualification and enlist in the local armed forces as an enlisted infantryman, eventually earning a qualifying grade to enter reconnaisance training.
The subsequent years are, admittedly, murky at best, owing not only to Lurie's lack of divulgence but also in Azania's strict classification of its military records. What little can be pieced together shows a varied and possibly even prestigeous career as a reconnaisance marine, punctuated with humerous NJPs, citations and court-martials for 'behaviors unbecoming and in moral disagreement with military ethics'.
Lurie was eventually granted an Honorable discharge in 2069 under grounds of physical and mental health following his survival of an ambush turned extended firefight, retiring to Raleigh NC to quote: "Get far away from things." Despite his discharge's terms giving him full medical coverage for repurchase and maintenence of retained combat-cyberware, said coverage was eventually cut, in part because of growing economic circumstanecs in Azania and in part because of multiple misdemeanours and alleged participation in 'political extremist groups linked to possible terrorist activity', leaving Lurie with the burden of paying for the expensive upkeep of his own cybernetics.

Funny thing, Vulcan Gravy told me he was already working as hired-muscle for some other guys before then, but the 'terrorist activity' he was supposedly involved with that Null mentioned? Gravy swears up and down he wasn't involved with at all.

— Anonymous User

Alright, I'll bite: What went down and why didn't he get involved?

— Coupe

It was 099, a local human-supremacist group. They wanted me to flatline the wife and parents of some trog politician and pin the blame on an elf-supremacist group called Gaia-S. The pay they offered was good but I turned it down because they didn't know how to plan worth a damn. They retaliated by going through the plan anyway except putting the blame on me instead.

— Vulcan Gravy

Let me guess, you ventilated 'em before you left?

— Coupe

Didn't have a chance, but I did let Gaia-S know who was trying to frame 'em up. Last I heard, 'Getting the 99 treatment' became slang for a gangland execution involving a looped BTL and an IV-dripfeed.

— Coupe

The need of extra income, combined with his growing dissatisfaction of civilian life, led to Lurie's involvement in organised crime as hired muscle, where he was erroneously given the alias 'Vulcan Gravy' after his original suggestion (a reference to some pre-crash media) was misheard. This led to both an open declaration of his newfound attitude towards political anarchy, and to a new career as a shadowrunner, where he can put put the money invested into his cyberware to good use.

Employment

Former infantryman of Azanian armed forces, currently unemployed (Shadowrunner).

Personality Characteristics

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Lurie posesses a relatively broad array of talents in infiltration, survival and small-unit command, as is expected of a military veteran, but his true passions lie in the operation and maintenence of firearms, having acquired a surprisingly broad knowledge not only in their use and mechanics, but in their history and cultural relevancies as well, making him not only a valued asset in armed conflict but a pertinent source of information in the 'tools of the trade'. His degree of specialisation however, also betrays how narrow his skillset is and how little experience he has in matters not centered around open combat.

Metatype

Elf

Ethnicity

South-African

Date of Birth

23rd of June

Year of Birth

2041 39 Years old

Birthplace

Tshwane Metroplex, Azania

Pronouns

He/Him

Eyes

Blue, prosthetic

Hair

Blond

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

White

Weight

201 lbs

Known Languages

English, Afrikaans