244: Long Mei Chou

ENTRY 244: Long Mei Chou

“I remember Shenzhen. Mother Leng would make breakfast for myself and my other clone sisters. We were trained to read people. It was bred into us, so we always knew what each other was thinking—and strangers were an open book. I stood at his left hand during the tensest negotiations, games for the highest stakes…the others became bodyguards, assassins, spies. But I was his talisman. Then the cancer-bombs fell. They told me I was the lucky one. It only ate my eyes. When I came up the gravity well, they gave me new ones. Better ones. Then they taught me how to use them. You look cold, dear. Would you like a scarf?”
- Long Mei Chou, Most Honored Elder of Mimas

For a hundred years, Long Mei Chou served in the criminal underworld in China—one of the earliest of the proto-splicers, born and raised to serve the crime lords. Nothing changed after the Fall, only her employers. She fell in with the Fa Jing cartel, and followed with Harmonious Anarchy when they split off. Her knowledge and skills are legend on Mimas, as are her appetites. A tired old woman, her body is artificially spry enough to still enjoy a few pleasures of the flesh, but most of the joy of life is beyond her. She serves as an honored elder of the Mimas community, and identifies potential threats and arranges for them to cease before they become threatening. The rest of the time, she knits. This hobby has earned her a small measure of fame beyond Mimas thanks to a serious of hilarious and dirty knitting instructional videos, including the notorious “Bound to Knit” session, which is still restricted for viewing to mature egos over 90 years of age in the Jovian Republic.

COG	COO	INT	REF	SAV	SOM	WIL	MOX
14	14	20	13	21	16	16	-
INIT	SPD	LUC	TT	IR	DUR	WT	DR
6	1	32	6	64	30	6	45

Morph: Splicer

Skills: Art: Knitting 48, Deception (Bluffing) 56, Exotic Melee Weapon (Knitting Needle) 25, Infiltration 34, Interests: Thread Manufacture 33, Interests: Yarn 65, Kinesics (Superkinesics) 76, Language: Native Cantonese 83, Language: Mandarin 76, Language: English 42, Networking: Autonomists (Knitting Circle) 45, Networking: Criminals 66, Palming (Knitting Needle) 45, Perception 50, Profession: Little Old Lady 60, Protocol 31

Implants: Access Jacks, Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Echolocation, Eidetic Memory, Enhanced Hearing, Enhanced Smell, Enhanced Vision, Microscopic Vision

Disadvantages: Aged, Immortality Blues

Using Long Mei Chou

Long Mei Chou is the ultimate dirty old woman. Her mastery of superkinesics (see entry 243) just means she can put it to better use than most. As an NPC, Long Mei Chou is as neutral and connected among the locals as the PCs are willing to encounter; if they manage to impress or entertain her then they’ve found a powerful ally that can give them the run of Mimas—or even the old dirt on Fa Jing.

Seed

• Long Mei Chou has a single surviving clone-daughter, Wen Chou. The PCs are given a package to deliver to her…wherever she is. The package contains a handknit scarf with hidden nanoscale barbs built into the yarn—whoever puts it on will suffer a particularly painful and possibly fatal amount of damage if they attempt to remove it. At the bottom of the box is a note saying that Long Mei Chou is disappointed Wen Chou never calls or writes.