Bertram Manheim-Cassady

Bertram is a cyber security specialist and the 'fixer' for ReUnion, an anti-corporate terrorist organization operating throughout the city. He owns the Jade Dragon Tea House on the Row, which he operates as a front for ReUnion. Once a Decker working for Masaru Corp, and GEB before that, he became disillusioned with the corporate path when he was forced to terminate an innocent civilian during a field mission. 
Now, he seeks to atone for his past mistakes by fighting to re-establish the Union in order to bring an end to the era of unchecked intergalactic corporate control.https://live.neondivide.com
==Origin==
Bertram was born to a well-to-do family on Hellion. He found he had a knack for tech at a young age and through his family, acquired GEB-sponsored education. GEB groomed him to become a cyber-security specialist, and he was on-track to become one of GEB’s best. However, due to some closed-door meetings, he ended up being part of a trade done with Masaru. 
Masaru had other ideas for Bertram, and decided to use his skills in the field. He was trained in the art of small-arms fire and sent on field missions to support his technologically inept, but magically gifted counterparts. He excelled and grew to be trusted, and as a result began to establish a large information network with ties to the other corporations, and the GU itself during his time with Masaru.
However, on a particularly brutal assignment, he was sent with a small group to quietly snuff out a family living on a wellspring of magic that Masaru was trying to get their hands on.
He had taken life before - enemy combatants, and civilians by proxy due to intelligence he supplied to higher ups, but he had never personally murdered a civilian, let alone a family. When the time came, he let the others do the dirty work, but that did not go unnoticed. The others called him out, forced a gun in his hands, dragged a kicking and screaming mother into the middle of the room, and forced him to show his loyalties to the company.
He complied, and that caused a paradigm shift in Bertram's thinking, in his way of life. He would soon after disappear without a trace, his own company record all but scrubbed. A large sum of credits and tech would be found missing at Masaru headquarters, with only his true name being left behind.
==History==
Bertram established himself in the Row midway through Season 2 (Episode 14). He purchased the tea house and the synth that came with it, AL-0, from the bank, becoming the synth's registered owner and began operating the tea house as his legitimate business front (as well as taking bets for gambling events) while he worked with ReUnion in the shadows. He was frequently busy with ReUnion activities outside the tea house and left Aloe to operate it alone. He also drank heavily at the brothel in his off-time.
Bertram quickly found himself involved with the corps. The day after Bertram arrived, a delegation from Trident came to the Row and Aloe agreed to participate in the gala they were going to host the next day, so Bertram accompanied her there as her owner. There Bertram met FL0UND3R- an Trident entertainer synth who immediately hit on Aloe. Flounder came to the Row in Episode 17, dragging Bertram into his antics with Aloe for most of the day.
In Episode 18, a man from GEB named Simon volunteered his expertise as a chef and food specialist to help with the tea shop and promote GEB products, spending much of the day with Aloe at the tea house. Two days later he returned, on the run from GEB after an attempted heist of an alien sample went bad, looking for any kind of help he could find to keep GEB from finding him. He offered Bertram his ID and corporate accounts to fight against the corps, but Bertram immediately discovered the accounts had already been locked out. Regardless he gave Simon a new identity, first as his own brother and later (after surgery) as a man named Shane, who was to work security for the tea house. In Episode 21, Manyu of GEB came searching for Simon, and asked Bertram permission to search Aloe. He consented after he wiped Aloe's memory of ever seeing Simon when he came to them after his heist failed. Manyu's search was unsuccessful, but Bertram now carried the guilt of erasing part of the memory of the synth who trusted him.
Bertram flirted with the brothel worker Vessa and others and eventually went on a successful date with her in the Undercity cake shop. On one trip with Vessa, he discovered the powered-down chassis of Flounder on the Undercity docks. Sensing an opportunity, he grabbed the chassis with her and they brought it back to the tea house. There he attempted to lift Flounder's personality and memories from his chassis- he was able to successfully grab the personality but when he attempted to download the memories the chassis' firmware bricked his phone. Deciding he was out of his depth, he put Flounder back together and allowed him to charge.
Flounder had a built-in security protocol that immediately was suspicious of the time discrepancy but Bertram maintained he had found Flounder in the Undercity with his face plate off. Flounder wanted to bring Aloe with him to the Upper City, Bertram suspected they would scan her memories so once again, he had to erase Aloe's memory of having seen him and Vessa attempt to remove Flounder's personality and memories.
==Traits==
===Edges===
====Cyber Security Expertise====
He is a skilled decker who excels in defensive decking and covering his own tracks. Information on him is scarce at best, as he is for all intents and purposes a ghost. 
===Flaws===
====Civilian Casualties====
Due to past traumatic events, he refuses to kill unless he must in self-defense. While he knows his actions will indirectly lead to deaths, the trauma of past events still weigh heavily on his conscience. He still struggles to this day to fire his gun at a living target, even for the cause he believes is just.
==Links==
===Social Links===
*Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/bringus
*Twitter: https://twitter.com/RegularBringus
==Clips==
*Defending the Dirty Diamond from invading aliens
===Episodes===
*Season 2 Collection: https://www.twitch.tv/collections/70ijZbZNPxbfoQ
*Season 3 Collection: https://www.twitch.tv/collections/Q7EVNCqlzhap1g
Category:Neon Divide Characters
Category:Characters
Category:Bringus Characters