Celestin DuPart

Celestin DuPart is a smuggler on the back bayous and deep swamps of New Orleans . Venturing into the city only on business (arranging jobs, buying ammo, engine parts, and other supplies), he runs weapons, people, chips—anything for a price—through the dark wilderness of cypress and Spanish moss, poisonous bogs, polluted byways, and coastal pathways of the near Gulf region, and he’s an ideal guide or muscle for jobs in this area. He relies on his enhanced cyber eyes and ears to make nighttime journeys along secret smuggler routes that would stymie the most intrepid adventurer. His airboat, The Fancy Nancy, is well equipped, with its flat-bottom and generous, if spartan, hauling capacity to traverse the shallow waters of the swamp. And since it’s difficult to conceal cargo on the open-aired boat, he is well-prepared to defend his charge. He favors pistols and his short-barreled shotgun for ranged combat (though he’s very proficient with his rifle, hunting gators and bayou deer, and a well-maintained SMG for heavier work). In melee combat, the knives come out, and he’s apt to skin you before you know it. A favorite technique is to force his opponents into the water, where he is specialized in armed underwater combat and his opponents are likely out of their element. His plastic bone-lacing makes him a tough opponent without the weight of metal, and the retractable hand-blade means he’s never unarmed (though he throws a mean punch, too). If he believes he is being followed, he may stop to hide in the water among the tree roots and flotsam and surprise his tails (and maybe toss a grenade in their boat before submerging again). Besides smuggling, he occasionally engages in a bit of piratetry, taking advantage of the hapless people who wander into the swamp either by accident or poor design. He usually does not mess with other smugglers, though, observing a kind of pirate code of honor.

His skin is the dusty brown of mixed heritage, with black hair and nearly black eyes. He speaks Creole fluently, along with English, and his sometimes impenetrable accent (to outsiders, at least) is dusted with a French and Spanish patois that leans heavily on expletives. His slow drawl lulls others into thinking he’s stupid, but he’s very fast, mentally and physically, and sometimes displays a biting wit or delivers a withering putdown (that is, withering if they get past his accent). He comes from a long line of smugglers and coastal pirates that he claims stretches back hundreds of years to the golden age of pirates. Like most pirate-kin, he’s a braggart, too, and will regale his passengers with tales of rasslin’ gators 6 meters long, impossibly narrow escapes from CAS coast guard troops, and smuggling items of breathtaking value and importance. He believes this will enhance his reputation and lead to bigger and richer jobs. He can’t abide to not be on the water, and lengthy times on land make him distracted and absent-minded, his sense of direction is impaired, and eventually somewhat mean. While out in the swamps he can tell you what snakes are poisonous (most of them), which gators to avoid (most of them), and what’s edible (not much). He’s highly superstitious, and carries many lucky charms and has many rituals that most Awakened would roll their eyes at, but he’s seen will o’ wisps and other strange things out in the deep bayous, and he respects the natural and magical dangers that lurk, often only half-submerged in the muck. His reduced essence from his cyber has, perhaps, driven him further out into the swamp away from people, but he still craves that companionship sometimes. Smuggling, especially people, or shadowrun jobs keeps him connected to his humanity.

While in the swamp he favors simple clothing, and often no shirt or shoes (but an armor vest, perhaps). Jobs may mean the full swamp camo suit comes out. In town, he favors his Secure long coat for concealing a shotgun or the Armor jacket if he expects trouble. He travels in the swamp armed, and caches weapons, ammo, and equipment in hiding spots throughout.

System

Shadowrun 3rd Edition