Rose McNevan

Rose McNevan
Aliases	Goth Barbie Nyx
Portrayed by	Keirakvlt
Affiliation	Callous Row Undercity Talaris The Dark Sisters
Profession	Talaris Intelligence Operator Leader of the Dark Sisters
Biographical information
Character Age	29
Physical description
Species	Drow Elf
Gender	Female
Eye color	Red
Hair color	White

Please remember that events described in this article are roleplay and acting. Actions done in-character do not reflect on the actual person portraying the character!

Origin

Born into poverty and starvation, the young dark elf Rose McNevan has known nothing but struggle most of her life. With her mother ill and her only other family member being her younger sister, Rose was the only one who could even attempt to provide for the family.

Eschewing the usual social norms of a young slummer, she began working rather morally grey jobs at a young age. Though her biological father died when she was young, she did have an augmented human step-father for a few years. He abused her mother to the point that she no longer trusts augmented people or synths, seeing them as violent and unnatural.

Prioritizing survival over anything else, Rose fought tooth and nail to put food in her loved ones’ mouths, but it wasn’t enough. Her mother died a slow and awful death. While Rose blamed Atlantis firing her mother when she became ill and the corrupt system in place in Savior City for her mother’s demise, her younger sister Jess blamed Rose.

Estranged from her sister and alone, Rose set out to rectify the injustices she’d seen. Using her skills of manipulation and stealth, Rose inched her way out of poverty by selling her services to a professional off-world assassin. He wanted a small unassuming girl that nobody would suspect, and found that in Rose. After 13 years of killing people she didn’t want to kill and abuse from her handler, she killed him and returned to Corvanis 3. There, she began working as a private investigator. The purpose of the business isn’t truly to gather information for her clients, however. She uses her position to gain dirt on those above her as she moves her way towards the positions of power she wants to be in.

She sees magic not as a shameful endeavor, but as a tool that can be used by those oppressed by the corporations to take their power back. In her search for knowledge she has joined The Dark Sisters, leading to the murder of Kythus. She has also joined Talaris, hoping to use their resources to eventually become powerful enough to fix the issues in Savior City and fulfill the purpose of The Dark Sisters.

History

Episode 3

Ciara Ní Éabha takes notice of the latent shadow mana inside Rose, and offers to take the investigator under her wing, teaching her the ways of shadow magic. They quickly form a close bond as two girls of similar affinities.

Episode 6

Rose, Pebbles, and Ahi are officially asked by Kythus Tolem to join the Coven - a union of mages in The Undercity, which they all accept.

This however creates an internal dilemma for Rose as she doesn't sympathize with Kythus playing politics with the Mega-corporations, and her mentor Ciara was recently expelled from the Coven and banished to the Wasteland, where she plots her revenge against Kythus. But Rose notices Ciaras thirst for vengeance and worries about what she plans to do after taking out Kythus. Thus, she will soon have to choose a side between two people who have given her great gifts.

A shadow spirit that seems to be attracted to Rose

Later on, Rose and a few other denizens of The Undercity, are visited by mysterious spirits that seem to be powered by the different elemental affinities. Rose herself gains the attraction of a shadow spirit, along with Shaska Gug'Adez and Ikelos, the latter of whom gives the spirit some of his shadow magic as an "offering".

Episode 8

Norman makes an announcement at the coven meeting

Rose attends a coven meeting which is briefly interrupted by Norman Flint to bring the news of Talaris CEO Damien Masarus imminent arrival and acquisition of the necromancer lair, a place very important to her mentor Ciara and the Dark Sisters. To add to Rose's distress at this news, Kythus then lets the coven know about his dealings with, and the acceptance of Talaris. This would be the catalyst that Rose needed to fully support the Dark Sisters, and Ciaras plotting against Kythus.

When Damien arrives in The Undercity, Rose cautiously stalks him from around corners and high walkways, with some aid from her short-term invisibility.

Episode 10

Talking with Ciara, Eros, and Viana

Continuing their plotting, Rose and Ciara try to plan a coup of the coven with Eros Totle. In the beginning Eros also had some distaste towards Rose due to the kindness Ciara had given her, which he perhaps believed had lead to him being left out of important information.

Much of Rose's day is then spent talking with Ciara and Eros, including them all meeting with Sir Polka and discovering the fact that he is a golem made of up thousands of souls, which Eros calls a "mana battery" for shadow magic. This piques the interest of the three shadow mages, and they discuss how they could perhaps bind him and Friend

Episode 11

Putting her experience as a private investigator to use, Rose searches for the Necromancer's shadow cube that continues to teleport around the Undercity. Kythus has continued to mess with it, and it has in turn continued to chaotically relocate itself over spirit shrines, leading many to believe it will lead to a dangerous situation soon.

Rose notices Leilani appears to have been cursed after killing a spirit, sensing dark energies coming from her along with a changed physical appearance. She calls this Leilani's "Hot Topic Phase". Towards the end of the day, Rose takes refuge in the sanctum, hiding from the synths many believe will soon be pouring in from the wasteland, where they've been waging a war against organics. This further exacerbates Rose's distrust towards synthetic life.

Episode 12

Rose is approached by Nia and Cleo, who are looking for help for Raleigh Seren. They've suspected Rose may have an affinity for shadow magic and believe the magic that is seeping from Raleigh is shadow-based. Sadly, Rose has no idea what this mysterious illness appears to be, as shadow magic rots Raleigh from within. Even her mentor Ciara, being the most powerful necromancer in the undercity, is unsure what it is that plagues Raleigh.

Rose takes great pleasure at watching members of the Union flee from the Necropolis. They were simply exploring it, which Rose warned against, and are swiftly chased out by a large shadow elemental. Rose believes only those with knowledge of shadow should dare to enter down there, as it seems to show aggression towards anyone that is not a "friend of shadow". She does fear, however, that Talaris might fare better down there, and begins to plan accordingly.

Rose runs into a Nirvana employee, Alice, in the Undercity. She is tempted to kill her, noticing she is all alone and poorly armed. She changes her mind when Alice brings up that corporations killed her parents, a fact that staggers Rose a bit since she experienced the same thing with her mother. She lets Alice go, telling her to get out of there and not "fuck around".

Rose explores the Necropolis, plotting how she can booby trap The Necromancer's lair with poison (her specialty) to prevent Talaris from getting to the knowledge held within. Eros leads Ciara and Rose to a new shadow shrine he has built in the Necropolis. The three shadow mages decide Kythus would make the perfect initial sacrifice at this shrine, plotting to lure him down soon, telling Rose to prepare a poison strong enough to incapacitate him while the mages kill him and extract his soul. Rose is more than willing, as she sees the time for diplomacy leading to democracy has long passed within the coven as long as Kythus is around. While they are down there, they sense an unbelievably strong amount of shadow magic forming above them. They rise to the surface to investigate.

In the mushroom cave above them, they discover what appears to be a giant mass of shadow energy, almost appearing as an egg or embryo. Rose is fascinated at first, before realizing the only person she saw in the cave before going down to the Necropolis was Raleigh. She theorizes this might be her, since she has been slowly overtaken by shadow magic over the past few days. This suspicion is confirmed when some of the Myconids trying to poke and prod the mass of shadow see Raleigh within, slowly growing into a new being.

Episode 13

Early in the morning she spends some time with a new union associate: Vanto Ruve and they get to know each other a little bit before Rose has to move on to her planned operation for the day.

Moments before the execution of Kythus

With Ciara and Eros, Rose participates in the assassination of coven leader Kythus Tolem in the necropolis. While Kythus is talking to Ciara and Eros, Rose uses her Bend Light spell to sneak up behind him and injects him with one of her potent drugs - a sleep sedative. She then watches as Eros holds the man down, slits his throat, and Ciara quickly takes his soul to store in one of her crystals.

Interrogation of Shaska after she exits the necropolis and her possession is broken

Her work with the lair is not finished for the day however, as she later meets Shaska Gug'Adez right as she exits it and snaps her out of her possession. Rose interrogates the Orc along with Eros and Nia, and they quickly learn Shaska was possessed by the powerful Thaddeus and forced to explore the sanctum and lair. Sheila then turns up and Rose asks her what she can feel from the necromancers cube. Sheila gets close and begins to sense the presence of the spirit eater - Thaddeus.

Ahi asks Rose is she has seen any spirits being eaten after Thaddeus's trip to The Undercity

And so Rose spends much of the rest of her day running around The Undercity investigating and warning against Thaddeus. She also sees Damien and Talaris in the magic sanctum again and is further annoyed. Knowing they are now going to fully explore the lair, she sets up some more traps.

Episode 14

Working on a new outfit with Cherri

For the first time in 13 years, Rose ventures up to The Row seeking help on a new outfit more appropriate for the guise of a Dark Sister. She eventually finds the local tailor Rylee 'Cherri' Ryder and together they begin building a new striking attire for Rose.

After some initial agitation the two girls develop a mutual regard for each other, and after their work is finished they both head back to The Undercity. After some walking and talking, they make their way to the grove where they meet the local Darrius Marrow and the three have an intimate conversation about friendships and necromancy.

Trying to convince Cherri of her latent magic

It doesn't take long for gunshots to be fired nearby, sending both Cherri and Rose into a state of panic where Cherri accidently scratches Rose with her nails. Rose, having the ability to sense magical energy, feels some kind of toxin magic enter her that causes her to experience the worst fear she's ever felt. After calming down, Rose and Darrius attempt to convince Cherri of her previously unknown magical ability.

Overlooking the lair during the corp expedition

Later on in the day, Rose has more pressing matters to attend to as the expedition into the necromancers lair conducted by Talaris is fully underway. Together with Ciara they watch over those who journey through the lair, hoping that the work she put in laying down traps would pay off. Much to Rose's pleasure, on his way out of the necropolis the WOTO head chef Rikky Raclette gets caught in one of her bear traps, although he is quickly freed and limps the rest of the way back to the corporate offices.

Episode 15

Shadow spirit thanking Rose

Rose spends her morning with Cherri, fetching Leilanis corpse from outside the mushroom house and taking it back to the necropolis to plant and water in the hopes that her plant friend grows back. While in the lair she meets a bear-trapped Raleigh who asks her about Kythus's death, which Rose claims to not know about. Together they meet a large shadow spirit who thanks Rose for her shadow magic food offerings to other spirits.

Rose, Friend, Viana and Cleo visit the recently shot Ciara

The two then hear some gunshots not far away, and when Rose runs over she finds Tynan and Darrius, who tell her that Ciara has been shot by Bo and Big Conk. Infuriated at the mushrooms, Rose runs over to the Undercity clinic to find Ciara still alive, but very wounded and unable to walk. Ciara tells her that the Undercity is no longer a safe place for the two of them, and together with Friend they plan to head to Talaris for sanctuary.

Officially meeting Talaris members Calliope Keres, Phyllis Cree, and CEO Damien Masaru

Thus, for the first time, Rose heads up to the Upper City with Ciara, Friend, and Viana Kelesni. Upon arriving at Talaris they are escorted into the corporate boardroom by guards to meet Damien and the rest of Talaris. The conversation goes well as Damien introduces himself and asks the group about various topics, including the death of Kythus which Rose and Ciara claim they did not do - instead they put the blame solely on Eros. Raleigh also turns up and doesn't believe their story about Kythus, getting angry at the dark sisters before leaving.

Rose looks down at the city from the Talaris apartment

As two powerful mages with similar views on the world of magic, Ciara and Damien get along quite well. The CEO asks Ciara to join Talaris, but needed more time with Rose to invite her to join the corporate ranks. Ciara accepts and is given a Talaris apartment to spend the night, which she shares with Rose. The two spend the last minutes of the day going over what they just went through, leading to Ciara bestowing leadership of The Dark Sisters to Rose. Ciara then says they should spend the last night Rose might be alive celebrating and heads to "shower to get ready", insinuating they may be becoming closer overnight.

Episode 16

Damien gives Rose her new corporate ID

Rose, Ciara, and a few other Talaris employees make their way from the apartments to the Talaris boardroom. There, they organize security for the Atlantis gala and Damien offers Rose a position at Talaris - specifically working with Ciara and Cornelius in the intelligence division of the corp. She sees great promise in her ability to "make people disappear in spooky and untraceable ways"

Thaddeus approaches Vessa and Rose

Rose then heads to the gala with the rest of Talaris and spends a while socializing with other corp members or friends from around the city. However, it is not long before tensions arise as she gets news that Thaddeus has arrived at the gala. For the rest of the gala she helps Talaris keep an eye on him, trailing behind him and trying to get a general idea of what he is up to. As the gala comes to an end, so does her Thaddeus surveillance as they leave the building, but not before Rose and Ciara see Sir Polka in his human body for the first time, much to their surprise.

Rose and the rest of Talaris post-gala

All available Talaris and Atlantis employees then head back to the Atlantis boardroom where they give a small debriefing of the gala and theorize what Thaddeus was up to. Damien makes sure everything Thaddeus touched was collected and analyzed, and congratulate the employees on their preventative measures against him, including not shaking hands and never taking their eyes off of him. Conrad Ludovic of Atlantis also asks Talaris to help expand their influence in the Undercity, as there are a number of Talaris employees with connections there.

Episode 18

A fox interrupts the morning Talaris meeting

In the morning Talaris meeting, Rose and the other Talaris employees discuss the new revelation that Tynan Hamada is secretly working for Quixote down in the Undercity. They also begin planning for the upcoming mission to the volcano and decide to send out some scouts for shadowrunners and mageslayer bullets. Rose is designated to the Row with Cornelius and Calliope to try find possible connections.

Trying the tea at AL-0s shop

In the end their trip to the Row is light-hearted, as the three Talaris employees and a new mage HTR guard make their way around the streets. They try selling Talaris merch, performing street magic, and tasting some local cuisine before Ciara meets up with them. She has come from the Undercity to give them news about the coven rebuilding and a shadow spirit harassing Raleigh Seren. Ciara reports that the spirit was hungry and looking for Rose, as she was the one who fed it mana and souls before she began her corp life. The group decides to head to the Undercity to investigate what is happening, with Rose specifically looking for her shadow spirit friend.

Raleigh tells Rose her shadow spirit problems are sorted (while the shadow spirit possesses someone behind her)

Rose finds Raleigh outside the sanctum, who tells her that the shadow spirit is no longer harassing her. Rose notices the shadow spirit has begun to possess Tynan behind Raleigh, but due to her disrespectful treatment, Rose decides to head back to the Uppercity. On her way out picks up some purple mushrooms from the necropolis to restock her poison ingredients, and gets stopped by the aforementioned spirit in the subway, far outside its usual habitat. When Rose asks why the spirit is so far outside the necropolis it exclaims is protecting its home and asks for more food, which Rose promises is coming soon.

Back in the Talaris boardroom, the employees again discuss Tynan and how his constant possessions are giving Talaris trouble in the Undercity. The group debate what to do with him, eventually deciding on taking away his magic if they must.

Episode 19

Rose, Friend and Cornelius discuss going on a risky mission to the Undercity

Rose reports to the rest of Talaris what she knows about the Undercity shadow spirit: it should stop causing chaos if she feeds it, as she has done multiple times before. Rose and Friend decide to head to the Undercity to try and feed the spirit after their morning meeting. Prior to this, Damien goes over multiple plans, including a joint effort between Talaris and MARS to fire a magic nuke at the approaching aliens.

Shaska relays info of volcanic activity

Rose and Friend make their way to the Undercity, but before reaching the sanctum they are stopped by Shaska Gug'Adez who warns them of smoke and rumbling coming from the nearby volcano. Despite Friend's pleas to divert their efforts to this volcano, Rose continues to make her way to the sanctum. On her way, she leaves the local blacksmith a note, putting in an order for a new dagger. Just before reaching the sanctum she see Big Conk, who also spots Rose and begins to seemingly run after her. Deciding she doesn't want to fight at this time, Rose runs back to friend and agrees to head down to the wasteland to check out the volcano.

Tynan asks Rose for support

As Friend couldn't remotely contact Damien, she and Rose quickly run back up to the corps and tell Talaris and WOTO about the volcanic activity, and they all run down to investigate. After some chaos in Scraptown they eventually decide to leave the investigations for tomorrow, but Rose's trip is not wasted as she meets Amara "Mari" Mauler, the missing blacksmith from earlier. She also talks with Tynan, who pleads for her trust, saying that he is working for the Undercity, not against Talaris. Rose eventually decides to head back to the Undercity, this time with Cornelius, to try finish her business from earlier. Although she does not meet the spirit she wanted, she cuts off more necropolis mushrooms to restock her poison ingredients and brings them back to the Uppercity.

A strange crystal left by Sheila in the Talaris lab

Back at Talaris, Calliope tells everyone that a collection of strange objects appeared in their lab. Upon investigation, Rose and the rest of Talaris deduce that the items belong to Sheila (who was just spotted outside Talaris), and suspect she was meeting with Damien in private. They go to Atlantis to spread this rumor, thinking their CEO will find rumors of his sexual exploits funny. Rose ends her day on a light note as she has a BBQ with her Talaris friends and some Sonitii employees.

Episode 20

Discussing the days plans with coworkers Cornelius Crown and Friend

During the usual morning meeting, Rose discusses her plans for the day: enchanting her new dagger at the Undercity runesmith and sarcastically says she'll follow through on investigating "sentient mind controlling burritos" and an apparent "woto cube elemental" that has been reported in the Row by Riley. Before this she has a couple dealings with Cornelius, Friend, and some other corporations. Ama Krolia and Dr Emilia Röntgen-Cree of Nirvana report to them that Ciara ordered Vee to shoot Dr. Emilia yesterday, and Hawkins Sawyer informs of a joint-corp mission to The Golden Lance and asks for some mages as possible communication and/or protection. After these meetings a few of the Talaris members head down to the Row.

The Puppet Master says they shot Riley and wishes for more attacks against Talaris

Rose runs into her old friend Rylee 'Cherri' Ryder who pulls her away from her corporate friends back to her apartment where she shows Rose a strange mannequin that has appeared recently. Rose detects significant magic emanating from it before Cherri brings out the "Puppetmaster" inside the mannequin - which begins moving and speaking. Cherri and this Puppetmaster explain that they want inside eyes on Talaris, and while Cherri says she just wants intel, the sinister Puppet Master desires possible assassination of Talaris members. Rose neither accepts nor declines their request, saying she needs some time to think on it. She hurries away from them and heads down to the Undercity to meet up with Cornelius and Friend.

Rose introduces herself to Esperine Veil

Rose gives her Talaris friends the full debrief on the Puppetmaster, explaining that the mannequin was possibly the "woto cube elemental" Riley reported being attacked by. Eventually Theris Fueler asks for their help in the shadow district, and upon arriving they find a giant shadow spirit. It tells Rose that the spirit of the necropolis dragon is angered and asks them to take another bone from its skeleton and take it to the true leader of the coven, who it calls "The rat". Ciara, who just met up with them in the Undercity, suggests Darrius Marrow. Ciara also introduces Rose to her new friend Esperine Veil and with her endorsement and the demand of the shadow spirit, Rose shows Esper around the necropolis and the Dark Sisters' sanctum.

Rose watches Cornelius burn down and inspect an aggresive mannequin

Rose takes Esperine on a tour of the necropolis, explaining shadow magic to her while they walk. While she is there, Rose takes a bone sample from the dragon skeleton as requested by the shadow spirit. After her tour, Rose quickly catches up with some Undercity friends before returning to Talaris HQ, where she is immediately notified of sentient, violent mannequins and watches her coworkers deal with one of them.

Episode 21

The Talaris magical girl squad assemble for their meeting

Rose and the other Talaris members go over everything they know about the Puppetmaster, while Jeremiah discovers his base of operations - an abandoned WOTO warehouse somewhere in the Row. They unsuccessfully attempt to contact WOTO for more information before making their way down to investigate this warehouse. Upon studying the details Jeremiah gave of the location, both Rose and Friend are familier enough with the Row to realize that the warehouse has been destroyed over the years and is actually in the scrapyard.

Calliope involuntarily grabs Rose

Upon arriving at the scrapyard the group are immediatly fired upon by mannequins in rafters and ledges above them. Talaris repel the attackers. Rose remainins unharmed while Calliope takes a hit to her shoulder. Calliope exclaims that something seems to be spreading from the painful wound, so Rose rushes her to the Row clinic for treatment. There, Rose attempts to detect magic on her wounded coworker, but just as she begins scanning Calliope's hand, it involuntarily reaches out and grabs Rose. With some help they are pried apart but not before Rose detects some magical force inside Calliope. Rose and Cornelius theorize it could be the Puppetmaster attempting possession of their friend.

Talaris interrogate a mannequin to little avail

Undiscouraged, Rose and the party continue their search through the scrapyard and eventually find a more obviously sentient mannequin they can subdue and interrogate. When Rose uses her magical detection on it, she finds that the mannequin is not inherently magical but someone tampered with it to bring it to life. She watches Cornelius inspect the mannequin then pull out a string that he claims sent small tendrils up his arm when he pulls it off the mannequin. Calliope says that inside both her and Cornelius are now "strings" that the Puppet Master can manipulate.

Rose asks Emily to enchant her new dagger

Rose splits up from the rest of the group to look for the local Dagu who is familiar with the scrapyard. She runs down to the Undercity in her search, and although she doesn't find him she runs into the Talaris-planted spy Emily Beischel and make a deal for her to deliver the dagger to the runesmith to enchant Rose's new dagger with a shadow rune. Rose's search is cut short when Shaska Gug'Adez informs her that Ahi and Tynan have been captured by Thaddeus. Rose immediately alerts Talaris and runs back to the Uppercity.

"Morgan" gives Jeremiah a strange book

Upon arriving, she hears news that Riley Knox shot Ikelos and begins another search for Riley around the Uppercity. She eventually makes her way back to the Talaris boardroom, where she sees an intimidating mage named Morgan give Jeremiah a mysterious book that is written entirely in blood.

Episode 22

Rose inspects her new shadow dagger

Jeremiah turns up to the Talaris office with Riley in custody. Before they can begin investigations, WOTO turns up asking for magical assistance in their upcoming raid to Thaddeus' base of operations. Rose watches Friend and Jeremiah leave with them, begging them not to go, but decides herself not to go as she has other priorities and calls the mission a death trap. Soon thereafter, their Undercity contact Emily shows up to returns Rose's dagger - now infused with a shadow rune for extra damage.

Damien judging the Talaris vs Riley Knox trial

In the Talaris boardroom, Damien acts as the mediator between Riley and the rest of Talaris, who all claim he is a massive liability to their corporation. Despite Rose reading off a number of problems he has been causing, Damien chooses not to execute Riley just now and tells the rest of the Talaris employees to get back to business. During the interrogation Rose meets Cherri outside, where the slummer gives Rose an update on the Puppetmaster. She saw two people talking to him in the Row arena. Cherri claims the Puppetmaster is a former Talaris researcher named Trescalor, and that Vessa Chernelle of the Dirty Diamond invoked him.

Confronting the Puppetmaster in an Alleyway

Rose reports back to Talaris with this new information, and under her lead a mage squad make their way to the arena to face their enemy. There, the Puppetmaster awaits them and they begin to fight him and his mannequin guards. Using all available magics and some slummer help they manage to defeat the mysterious man, but not before Rose gets close to him and senses that he is actually another mannequin - they were not fighting the real enemy. Despite this she feels that those who where afflicted with his threads are now freed.

Vessa tearfully claims she did not summon the Puppetmaster

After the combat, Rose catches up with some of her Slummer friends and follows up on Vessa. Vessa claims that she did not invoke the Puppetmaster but did talk with him, telling him about her Talaris distrust. Rose believes her for now and theorizes someone saw Vessa talking with the Puppetmaster and assumed she was the one who summoned him. Rose then makes her way to the Undercity and spends the last few minutes of the day catching up with Ciara and Esperine, unaware of what happened to her friends in the Uppercity. Esperine warns Rose that Vanto Ruve has planted mining bombs in the wall above the Necropolis, which leads Rose to immediately distrust Vanto for seemingly targeting what she considers her home.

Episode 23

Talaris say goodbye to their friend

Overnight, Rose finds out what happened to Jeremiah at yesterday's Thaddeus mission. The morning after, all Talaris employees gather for his funeral where they each say their final and thankful words to him. Rose shows her first sign of real emotion since Ciara was attacked, breaking down in tears. She thanks the man for helping her find her place in Talaris, giving her a sense of safety amongst the chaos of the city.

Rose watches Morgan shoot water at the flames of a crashed shuttle

Just after the funeral a loud crash and subsequent shockwave reverberates through the Uppercity, seemingly coming from the Union tower. Rose and her companions run to the tower to investigate and find a crashed MARS ship that is already being dealt with by MARS employees. Talaris quickly find there is not much need for their magic and run back to their offices. There, Rose gives a report on the big explosion that she heard that morning coming from the Shadow District. This further empowers Calliopes desire to seize control of the Undercity, and with Damien's permission she begins to plan a corporate raid.

Hadwyn and Rose talk about corps and aliens

Rose then has a more personal talk with her old friend Hadwyn. Hadwyn explains that he is about to go on a suicide mission to fight the aliens, and asks Rose to make sure his close friend Odd is safe if he doesn't return from the mission. Rose agrees, saying she can check on him herself or find other people to take care of him, but tries to convince him to do his best to come back safely.

Rose and Calliope bring up Rose's accusations against Vanto

Rose and Talaris then go about their planned business around the city, but upon arriving at the Undercity docks they immediately hear an explosion coming from the nearby tavern. Rose is suspicious this is Vanto again, and upon finding both him and Koi Zogin at the crime scene voices her suspicions against the Union member. Koi explains to her that the Union are doing some approved mining operations around the Undercity, and Vanto claims he was nowhere near the tavern explosion. Despite Rose's arguments, Calliope decides that there is not enough legal backing to arrest Vanto yet and so they let him leave the scene with Koi.

Damien warns his employees of an imposter amongst the corps

Rose and her friends return to the Uppercity, where they meet up with Damien and debrief him on the Undercity explosions and Rose's suspicions. Damien informs them of the alien imposter that has been causing havoc around the Uppercity, notably taking the form of Goldman and acquiring galactic warpgate codes. He warns them that several members of the Union and WOTO are compromised, to never travel alone, and always carry a body rune from now on.

Episode 24

The Undercity population gather for a Talaris announcement

The day begins with the scheduled Talaris raid on the Undercity - although no named Talaris members are present except Calliope who is leading the mission. Corporate guards swarm the districts and round up everyone they can find to the water district. It is then that the key employees, including Rose, arrive in force to bring the message that the Undercity is now owned by Talaris. Calliope warns the denizens of retaliation and announces a council that will help diplomatic relations. She elects Big Conk and Tynan Hamada as the first two council members and claims the position is non-negotiable. After some heated debate the corps finish their announcement and head back up to their offices.

Stepping into the ritual sphere to provide refreshments to the 3 CEO's

Back in the Uppercity, Rose and her companions find Damien who informs them he is busy on a project with WOTO, saying they need to save the city. The project is revealed in their laboratory: a ritual to sever the alien's connection to those that it touched yesterday. Rose watches Damien perform the ritual on John Goldman and assists by providing refreshments when prompted by Atlantis CEO Terrance Reynolds.

Damien votes Yes

After some light discussion, the topic of the Black Lodge (Talaris' top secret group that deals with existential threats and has access to immense resources) is brought up. Calliope begins a vote between all Talaris employees present to see if Rose should be inducted into the mysterious group. Nobody opposes, and actually provide kind words on why she would be an excellent addition. Thus, Rose joins the secret sub-group of her corporation.

Rose convinces Monty the recent attacks were not from Talaris

Not long afterwards, several Quixote employees arrive claiming there has been an attack by strangers in purple uniform, not dissimilar from Talaris colors. Rose explains to Monty Chancie that Talaris have been in their lab the whole time and they have multiple corporate CEO's as witnesses. She theorizes it could be The Shadowbats instead as they have similar colors. Satisfied, Quixote leave the scene and Rose retires along with all her friends in Calliopes apartment, celebrating a successful day.

Episode 25

Asking Rikky, Manyu and Rhapsoidia if they have seen her colleagues

Rose arrives at the Uppercity in the latter half of a chaotic first day of the alien invasion. After some running around trying to contact any Talaris members, Cornelius sends her a message that they are all dealing with a bad situation at Phyllis Crees apartment. She hurries there and finds Ikelos who tells her that both Phyllis and her granddaughter Dr Emilia are restrained and about to die in the apartment. He also informs her that Friend has been sent to the astral plane for attacking Phyllis.

David laments over Emilia while Cornelius carries Phyllis outside

Inside the apartment, she finds Emilia and David Walker clutching an unconscious Phyllis. Rose is asked by Calliope to kill Dr Emilia, but before she can do anything the doctor dies of her own wounds while holding her grandmother. Calliope then catches Rose up to speed: Dr Emilia was ordered to be executed as it was believed she was infected during the alien attack. Phyllis stopped the execution through force and so both of them were subdued by Talaris.

The group decides that Granny's fate should be determined at Talaris HQ instead of an apartment and transport her to the lab. Damien finds them along the way and is caught up on the entire situation. Rose also sees Emily and Ciara and informs them of the situation, bringing them with her to the lab.

Adding her shadow magic to the Phyllis execution spell

There, they all take a vote on whether to let Granny live or die. In a unanimous vote it is decided to terminate those who strike against Talaris, and so Rose and her colleagues channel their magic into a single brutal spell that executes Phyllis in an explosion of blood. Afterwards, Rose helps Damien channel a ritual to resummon Friend, suggesting the incantation and adding her magic to his.

Episode 26

Katashi hands the alien gun over to Quixote

Rose's first order of business is to head to Quixote with Katashi to deliver the alien handgun and have some maintenance done on her crossbow. She employs Monty Chancie who quickly fixes the weapon then heads back to her corp. There, she finds David who is asking for a Talaris testimony saying he helped terminate Dr Emilia, hoping reinstated into Nirvana. Talaris agree to help David in exchange for future Nirvana support.

Rose, Calliope and Ikelos plan their supply run

In the boardroom, Calliope reports that they have developed cryo-infused bullets for use against the aliens. Rose cannot use the bullets directly but wonders if she can acquire some ice projectiles for her now-functional crossbow instead. They also decide to deliver some care packages to the Undercity after the recent volcano elemental attack.

Damien does a role call for the nuke delivery mission

Damien then contacts his employees to let them know of an upcoming mission he is trying to recruit for, and asks for anyone available to report back to the boardroom. There, he informs them that there are 40 thousand aliens coming and he is working with the fixer Rook to set up the ultimate shadowrun operation: delivering the Talaris-MARS nuke to the aliens. He claims they can only send 15 of the best from the Uppercity and that he will not participate in the fight directly, but rather meditate and empower every mage in the city. Rose, along with Friend, Katashi, Cornelius, Calliope, and Ikelos volunteer for the dangerous mission.

Rose and Esperine look at the steam district devastation

She then heads down to the Undercity with her colleagues and helps deliver supply packages to the clinic. While in the Undercity she also sees some of the aftermath of yesterday's elemental attack in the steam district. She finds Ciara and Esperine who are distraught at the destruction and helps console them. Before she can spend much time with her dark sisters she gets called up to The Grindstone by Damien for a meeting about the upcoming mission.

Big discussion on resource allocation

When Rose enters The Grindstone she finds a massive meeting between representatives from around the city who share their boons they have discovered/developed to assist in the coming battle. Together they decide how to spend their resources in terms of offense, defense, utility, logistics and morale.

Traits

Edges

• Major - Toxic - To make up for her lack of strength, while working with an assassin she gained extensive knowledge on drugs and poisons to get her out of tricky situations. She can knock someone unconscious for 5 minutes with a strong sedative or force a death roll with poison. This requires gathering ingredients for the poisons beforehand and can only be used once a session.
• Minor - In Plain Sight - She is skilled in altering her appearance in simple ways, utilizing light illusion magic to change her hair and clothing color. She also possesses multiple masks and a hood that covers her face.
• Minor - Attuned - Rose shows a natural affinity for fire and shadow magic, learning spells a bit faster than average.

Flaws

• Major - Butterfingers - Due to her trauma surrounding guns, she is completely inadequate at using them. She has to rely on melee weapons, poison, or magic.
• Minor - Okay, nobody panic - Has a strong trauma response from abuse growing up and experiences as a mercenary’s assistant. Suffers from panic attacks following unexpected violence or reminders of her family.
• Minor - Fear and Loathing - While mostly favoring alcohol, she is tempted by any substance that can take the edge off of both her current stress and her past.

Spells

• Firestream - Rose unleashes a nearly uncontrollable stream of fire.
• Shield of Decay - Rose focuses her shadow magic into an orb around her, temporarily shielding her from bullets and spells and turning death into a protective force. Anything that passes through it faces the decay and entropy that comes from shadow magic. Bullets disintegrate and organic matter that passes through will be severely harmed. This cannot protect her from anything or anyone already within the orb when she casts it.
• Bend Light - Utilizing her fire magic, Rose bends the light around her to become temporarily invisible, either for stealthy eavesdropping or for escaping combat.
• Death Rattle - Utilizing shadow magic, Rose can detect death, sensing the release of the soul and mana from a corpse, which aids her in her private investigations. This also allows her to sense magical energy in general.

As Rose gives up more and more on being her idea of a "good person", her fire based spells like her invisibility and firestream have become more influenced by shadow magic.

Trivia

• Rose will often be tempted by and indulge in strange mushrooms that have appeared around The Undercity
• While never explicitly stated, Rose has hinted at being a trans-woman, saying she "doesn't know what an HTR team is, but she knows what HRT is".
• Rose possesses a hidden crossbow in her right gauntlet. The darts that come from it are infused with her custom-made poison.

Links

Social Links

• Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/keirakvlt
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Keirakvlt

Episodes

• Collection: https://www.twitch.tv/collections/AXu5SOcRPxZQVg

Clips

• Rose, Ikelos, and Shaska investigate a shadow spirit
• Death of Kythus Pt.1 Pt.2
• Official introduction of Damien and Talaris
• Cats, dogs, copyright infringements
• Talaris Rose visits what remains of Kythus
• Rose's dealings with Cherri and The Puppet Master Pt.1 Pt.2
• Prompted by Maia, Rose explains why she's with Talaris
• Introducing Jereslimah to Damien

Galleries

Art Gallery

Shadow art by Spatsula

Dark sisters by Dean Alice

Shadow art by iineo

Art by OmegaSlant

Rose Vector art by Deku

Screenshot Gallery

Bonding with a shadow spirit

Discussing magic with Ciara, Raleigh, and a shadow spirit

The beginning of the Kythus assassination - injecting him with a sleep sedative

Hiding from the corps in the secret dark sisters sanctum

Introduced to Phyllis Cree in the Talaris boardroom

Rose and Ciara reflect on their first day in the Uppercity

Entering the Atlantis gala with the rest of the Talaris girls

Talking to Wit and Cornelius Crown

Keeping an eye on Thaddeus

Catching up with Dr Rowan and Cleo at the gala

Rose and Ciara dressed up

Gala discussions with Phyllis and Vessa

Post-gala with Ciara and Cleo

Talaris performing street magic in The Row

A team break with Talaris

Talaris feed Atlantis juicy news of Damiens affairs

Rose finds a mannequin in the Row scrapyard

Getting ready to fight the Puppetmaster

Rose and Phyllis confront their enemy

Rose uses her new knife to win the battle

Wisp introduces Niko to Rose

Rose during the Undercity raid and subsequent announcement

Talaris vote execution for Phyllis Cree after she attacked a colleague

Rose helps Damien resummon Friend, who was sent to the Astral Plane

Watching her boss demonstrate the new Talaris salute

Petting Jereslimah