Christopher “Chris” Gardner

 

Age: 25 (Born 2072)
Occupation: Junior Bioengineer, PanGen (Hired in early 2097)
Former Education: UCLA, M.Sc. in Metahuman Biochemistry (Graduated 2096)
Marital Status: Single
Current Residence: Living with his parents

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Personal History & Psychological Profile:

Christopher “Chris” Gardner is intelligent but deeply insecure, growing up in the shadow of his high-achieving older sister and emotionally distant parents. A childhood spent mostly alone or in virtual spaces left him socially awkward and prone to gravitating toward strong personalities who could provide him with direction.

• Clingy & Approval-Seeking – Chris attaches himself to people who show him even a little interest. He idolized his sister’s ex-fiancé when she was in college, and now, with Philip/TB in the picture, he’s starting to look up to him in a similar way.

• Lack of Real-World Experience – Chris spent most of his teenage years in VR and online communities, developing a strong but somewhat detached perspective on the world. Even now, with a real job at PanGen, he prefers digital interactions over in-person conversations.

• Mommy & Daddy Issues – Daddy John was never around much, heavily engaged at work, while Mommy Gardner had trouble connecting emotionally (likely due to her condition).

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Matrix Activities & Fringe Involvements:

Chris has spent a lot of time in VR spaces and fringe Matrix communities. While not a hacker himself, he has brushed up against some deeply questionable groups.

Problem Areas:

• Human Supremacist Online Spaces (Past Involvement) – During his UCLA years, Chris dabbled in “human-first” ideology, frequenting forums that pushed ideas about metahumans being “biologically distinct” and advocating for separate social policies. It was less about hate and more about finding identity, but it’s a bad look.

• Universal Brotherhood Meetings (2096-97) – Before getting hired at PanGen, Chris attended several Universal Brotherhood self-improvement workshops. The meetings were marketed as psychological wellness and networking events, but the organization’s history is suspect.

• Online Conspiracy Boards – Chris follows all kinds of weird theories, from Matrix blackouts being AI test runs to corporate-run gene experiments on awakened individuals. He has no filter and will believe almost anything for a while before moving on to the next theory.

Current Status:

Since starting at PanGen, Chris has dialed back his Matrix activity significantly, likely because he actually has something resembling a real life now. Still lurking in some odd spaces, but not actively posting as much. No hard criminal activity detected, but his digital footprint is messy.

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Professional Life: Working at PanGen

Chris landed a position at PanGen’s Seattle branch thanks to a recommendation orchestrated by Wizkid (TB’s technomancer alter ego).

• Role: Junior Bioengineer working in experimental gene sequencing and biomodification research.
• Why He Got the Job: His academic record is decent but not exceptional. His hiring was most pushed through by PanGen’s AI, Pandora.
• Current Projects: He is assisting in a classified project related to metahuman adaptive genetics, but he doesn’t have full clearance.

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Final Analysis (Wizkid’s Notes):

Chris is a mess, but he’s not beyond saving. He’s spent his whole life looking for someone to tell him who he is—first online, then through fringe groups, now through his corporate job. He’s not a bad guy, but he’s a little too eager to believe things at face value. That makes him vulnerable. If he falls in with the wrong people, he won’t even realize it until it’s too late.

William “John” Gardner

 

Age: 54 (Born 2043)
Occupation: Lead Coroner, Lone Star Seattle Homicide Division
Former Affiliations: UCAS Army Medical Corps (2059–2066), Seattle Public Health Department (2066–2072)
Marital Status: Married to Maria Gardner (since 2068)
Children: Evelyn “Evie” Gardner (b. 2070) and Christopher Gardner (b. 2072)
Current Residence: Lake Sammamish, Seattle Metroplex

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Professional History & Criminal Activities:

William “John” Gardner is a highly experienced forensic pathologist with over two decades in the field. Currently, he serves as a coroner for Lone Star’s Seattle division, a position that grants him access to some of the most confidential criminal investigations in the city. His official job is to determine causes of death, perform autopsies, and process evidence for homicide cases.

Unofficially, Gardner runs a lucrative side operation selling biological data, genetic samples, and high-fidelity neural scans from the deceased.

Side Business – Under-the-Table Deals:

• Genetic Data Sales – He supplies DNA samples and full genome maps to multiple interested buyers, including black-market cyberdocs, underground researchers, and at least one party in Tir Tairngire. Lone Star isn’t paying him enough, and there’s a high demand for “pristine” metahuman DNA.

• Neural Mapping & Experimental Research – He has been running unofficial neural degradation studies by scanning the brains of recently deceased metahumans, trying to capture post-mortem cognitive data. Some of this research may be tied to magical resonance effects in the dying brain, making it of potential interest to corporate magic divisions and arcano-biotech firms.

• Unclaimed Cyberware Theft – While not his main focus, Gardner has stripped cyberware from unclaimed bodies on occasion, selling valuable augmentations to street clinics, organ-leggers, or cyber-recyclers. This is standard fare for corrupt coroners, but his real money is in the bio-research trade.

Connections & Associates:

• Tir Tairngire Buyer (Codename: “Faolan”) – A Tir Tairngire-affiliated buyer has been purchasing high-quality metahuman DNA samples from Gardner for several years. Wizkid’s digging hasn’t confirmed if this is a corp or a government entity, but the transactions are heavily encrypted and routed through multiple offshore accounts.

• Seattle Underground Clinics – Several independent street docs rely on Gardner’s “extra inventory” for under-the-table cyberware installation. He takes a cut and ensures that nothing can be traced back to him.

• Lone Star Corruption – While he’s not an active participant in Lone Star’s internal corruption networks, Gardner turns a blind eye to certain cases in exchange for professional favors and ensuring that his own activities go unnoticed.

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Public & Matrix Presence:

• Lone Star employee profile is clean. No red flags, no reprimands, a stellar career record.
• Matrix presence is minimal. He uses strong security protocols and never accesses illegal transactions from his home or Lone Star systems.
• Rumors exist in underground forums about a corrupt coroner selling DNA samples, but no direct links to his real identity.

Final Analysis (Wizkid’s Notes):

The old man is dirty, but he’s smart about it. No flashy purchases, no luxury cars, no stupid risks. He’s running a slow-burn side hustle that keeps the money flowing but never draws too much heat. The Tir connection is weird, though—what do elves need all that high-grade metahuman DNA for?

Maria Gardner (née Maria Espinoza)

 

Age: 52
Occupation: Unemployed, Former Mage & Corporate Thaumaturgist
Known Affiliations: Aztechnology (Former), Ordo Magica Obscura (Unconfirmed)
Marital Status: Married to William Gardner (since 2068)
Children: Evelyn “Evie” Gardner (b. 2070) and Christopher Gardner (b. 2072)
Current Residence: Lake Sammamish, Seattle Metroplex

Summary:

Maria Gardner was once a rising star in corporate thaumaturgy, working with Aztechnology’s research division in Seattle. Born in 2045, she was identified as magically gifted early on and trained in arcane diagnostics and astral healing. By the early 2060s, she had secured a stable corporate career, married John Gardner in 2066, and started a family.

But in 2069, everything fell apart. Something happened—an experiment gone wrong, a magical backlash, or something worse—and Maria lost her magic permanently. To this day, she won’t talk about it. Aztechnology declared her a burnout, and by 2070, she had been quietly pushed out of the corp, leaving behind her career and her identity as a mage.

At first, she tried to bury herself in family life, thinking Evie’s birth in 2070 and Chris in 2072 would give her purpose. But the truth is, she never adjusted to being mundane. Losing her connection to the astral left her feeling like a hollowed-out shell, and she never truly came to terms with her new reality.

By the late 2070s and early 2080s, she had spiraled into magical conspiracy theories, obscure research, and later, addiction. Over time, she became distant from John and her children, lost in a never-ending quest to restore her power—a quest that no burned-out mage in recorded history has ever succeeded in.

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Recent Activity (2085-Present)

• Ongoing Magical Research & Obsession

  • Has spent the last 20+ years chasing theories on reversing burnout—with no success.
  • Has contacted multiple shadow scholars, talismongers, and fringe magical groups, including:
    • Ordo Magica Obscura (a rumored cult of awakened scholars).
    • Arcane Restoration Initiative (a scam that took her for thousands of nuyen in 2093).
  • Frequently buys relics, tomes, and magical artifacts on the black market—most turn out to be fakes or useless for her condition.

• Mental Health & Addiction Issues

  • Officially diagnosed with chronic depression & anxiety in 2087 (initial symptoms likely started in the 2070s).
  • Alcohol dependency since 2088, with multiple flagged hospital visits for alcohol poisoning (latest in 2096).
  • Prescribed heavy sedatives & mood stabilizers, but frequently mixes them with alcohol.
  • Has refused conventional therapy multiple times—still believes she will "fix herself."

• Simsense Dependency & Escape into VR

  • Started simsense therapy in 2090—originally for emotional stabilization, but quickly became addicted.
  • 2093-Present: Subscribes to high-end “Emotional Enrichment” simsense programs, which replicate feelings of astral perception and mana flow.
  • Unpaid debts to simsense providers—some bordering on BTL-grade experiences.
  • Lately, she spends more time in VR than in real life, running immersive simulations of what it felt like to be a mage.

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Wizkid’s Take:

She’s lost in the past, chasing a miracle cure that doesn’t exist. If the tech existed to restore burned-out mages, Aztechnology would’ve commercialized it already. But if she ever did find something… who knows?

Related Link: “Echoes of Power: The Psychology of Burnout Mages”
Read More at The Arcane Ledger

Phoenix Rising: Episode 9 - Shadows of the Past

 

Phoenix woke to the scent of rain and something older—ashes and earth, lingering in her mind like a dream she couldn't quite remember. Someone had left an envelope under her door, its paper rough and unmarked, save for a single line of script inside:

“They are watching. Trust the one who walks between.”

The handwriting scratched at something deep in her memory, an itch she couldn’t scratch. But before she could puzzle over it further, her commlink buzzed. Sam Riaz. Another case.

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Father Gabriel Moreau had been no ordinary priest. Once a corporate Hermetic researcher, he'd abandoned that world to protect disenfranchised metahumans and runaway Awakened youth. His small chapel in the Bayou district had served as a refuge for those who had nowhere else to go.

And now he was dead.

The crime scene was brutal. A soul-bound ritual blade had ended Moreau’s life, leaving behind a scorched, hollowed-out husk where his heart should have been. Sam was already examining the scene, his usual skepticism buried beneath his frustration.

“Whoever did this wasn’t just looking to kill,” he muttered. “They wanted to make a point.”

Nearby, Rafael "Raf" Delgado, a street shaman Moreau had been mentoring, hovered with fists clenched. “Spider,” he growled. “It was Delacroix. Moreau was gonna expose his racket. That’s why he’s dead.”

Lucien "Spider" Delacroix, an enforcer with connections to the underworld and corporate-backed illicit arcano-tech rings. If Raf was right, Moreau had been on the verge of uncovering something huge—something that cost him his life.

Phoenix felt the air ripple. Something left behind. She stepped closer, stretching her awareness toward the residual energies clinging to the ritual site.

And then she saw it.

A flicker of movement. A trace of a signature—not just from the killer, but from something else. Something she was supposed to remember.

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On the way out of the Bayou, she ran into Armand Leclair, an old, eccentric mage who watched her with unsettling familiarity.

“You’re looking in the wrong places,” he murmured, eyes gleaming. “Moreau knew something. And now he’s gone. How many times are you going to let history repeat itself?”

Phoenix frowned. “Do I know you?”

Leclair chuckled, shaking his head. “Not yet. But you will. Just listen to your instincts.”

Before she could press him for answers, he was gone.

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Moreau’s hidden safehouse contained something unexpected—a small, pulsing shard nestled among his artifacts. It hummed with a faint energy that made Phoenix’s skin prickle.

“Another shard?” Sam asked, watching her reaction.

Phoenix hesitated. It looked like one of her soul shards—but something was off. The energy signature wasn’t quite the same.

Raf, eyes still burning with grief and anger, cut in. “This is proof. Moreau was protecting something bigger. We need to hit Spider now before he disappears.”

But something tugged at Phoenix’s senses. Another presence. A whisper of something wrong in the next room.

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In the farthest corner of the safehouse, they found her—a young woman in a near-catatonic state, eyes flickering with glitched-out AR overlays that shouldn’t exist.

Phoenix reached out instinctively, tracing the aura around the girl. Instead of the astral plane, her essence was somehow caught between the physical world and the Matrix.

That shouldn’t be possible.

Sam exhaled sharply. “We need Maya.”

---

Maya wasn’t thrilled to be dragged into a crime scene, but when she scanned the girl’s digital patterns, her smile faded.

“This isn’t hacking,” she whispered. “This is… something else.”

A deep frown settled on her face as she sifted through the layers of corrupted data intertwined with magical residue.

“Someone did this to her,” Maya muttered. “They’re trying to bridge something between the astral and the digital. But it’s unstable. If we don’t fix it, she’s gonna come apart.”

With Maya and Phoenix working together, they managed to stabilize the girl’s condition—but she didn’t wake up. Before slipping back into unconsciousness, she uttered a single phrase:

"They know you're looking."

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Raf’s anger finally boiled over. When he received a message saying Spider had taken one of the runaways hostage, he stormed off alone.

Phoenix and Sam arrived just as Spider was ordering Raf to prove his loyalty by executing Phoenix.

Instead, Raf hesitated. Spider turned his gun on him instead.

Time slowed. Phoenix felt the energy beneath the old church—the ley lines, the lingering power of past rituals, the ghosts of the forgotten.

Without thinking, she reached out and twisted reality.

A wave of fire erupted around Spider, an illusion so powerful he stumbled back in pure terror. In his mind, he saw something else in Phoenix’s place—something ancient and monstrous.

That was all Raf needed. The shaman struck, sending a surge of force at Spider, knocking him to the ground.

Before Raf could land the killing blow, Phoenix stopped him. “This isn’t what Moreau would have wanted.”

Through gritted teeth, Raf relented. Sam cuffed Spider, but his smug expression made Phoenix uneasy.

“You think this ends with me?” Spider rasped. “You have no idea how deep this goes.”

---

With Spider in custody, the case seemed closed. But Phoenix knew better. Moreau had known something dangerous. And the shard in his stash wasn’t hers—but it was connected to her.

That night, she found another message waiting for her. This time, the handwriting was different.

"You are not alone. But you need to remember before it’s too late."

Turning the note over, she found a glowing sigil, faint but unmistakable.

A piece of her past. A warning. And a promise.