Casamir Saric

#### Early Life

Casamir was born into the Blind Oracles clan on the outskirts of El Paso, Texas to a pair of Romani originally from the Splinters of the Balkans by the names of Nicu and Layla Saric, the pair having fled to America in the late 2020s, thanks to the ever-present conflicts and ethnic persecution they faced in their home land of Bosnia.

Casamir's early life was nothing truly special. He lived like any other Oracle. He prayed the prayers with his parents, listened to the elders and the clans-head and did what work he could, both legitimate and illegitimate. Life was simple, and often hard, but good. Something Casamir would long for later in his life.

#### The Silverwood Bloodbath

Casamir' peaceful life would change in 2058, when he was 16. The clan had been working in New Mexico for a few months, running guns and people across the border mostly. They had pitched camp near Silverwood, a podunk town in the middle of the desert, a few dozen miles away from a Kang Tao testing site. The type of place a bunch of Nomads were rarely made welcome, even more so when they were seen as a bunch of mystics. The trouble started small, being refused service at diners and bars, slurs and insults whispered by passers-by.

Things escalated when one of the clan's girls was attacked by Eddie Sawyer, a local hotshot wannabe-cowboy whose daddy practically owned the town. When news reached the Clan, Casamir and a few of the younger nomads decided to teach Eddie a lesson. They ambushed him in the night and gave him a good scare, making it clear that the Oracles were not to be messed with. Casamir, in particular, made a point to 'curse' Eddie before returning to camp.

That same night, some of the clan had ambushed a Kang Tao transport, making off with a shard of prototype blueprints they planned to sell across the border. The next morning, when Kang Tao arrived in Silverwood and began questioning the locals, it didn't take much for the townsfolk to give them up. Not only that, but the townsfolk rallied into a militia-turned-lynch mob, riding alongside the Corpos to face down the Oracles. They came at night, without warning, and the Nomads were taken completely off guard.

The Oracles put up as much of a fight as they could, but they were outgunned and, thanks to Kang Tao, outmatched. Casamir, still very young, turned and ran like so many others - something that would gnaw at him for many years. The clan scattered into the desert night. Some were hunted down, shot in the back or lynched, some froze to death in the freezing desert night, and some, like Casamir survived, managing to live through the death of the Blind Oracles. The survivors rallied around the remnants of their camp a few days later, where they all mourned and discussed what to do next.

### Life in Night City

In 2063, after a few days on the open road, spent listening to some Samurai classics and the roar of a finely tuned Nomad engine, Casamir finally arrived at the border of Night City. Crossing the border with relative ease, thanks in part to those old Aldecaldos tunnels and an old map, Casamir finally made it. The city of dreams, were legends mere made... He was almost mugged on his first day, in Arroyo, where some 6th Street recruits thought that the fresh-faced Nomad would be easy-pickings. The fight ended with one of the punks missing most of his teeth and another with his own knife in his thigh.

Casamir didn't come off easy though, and spent his first night in the city getting stitched up at a Ripperdoc, only to be told that he would have to work off his newly acquired debt. And so, Cas started to do what Nomads do best - smuggle. Cas worked odd jobs for a couple of years, mostly smuggling, but he also dabbled in theft, get-away driving and other general Merc work. While also paying off his Ripper debt in no time, he also earned himself a good reputation, for if someone needed a job done (and done well) they came to Casamir, or "Tex" as some of his contacts had started to call him, on account of his accent.

### The Unification War

In 2069, when the Unification War broke out. The NUSA mobilised fast, and it soon became clear that the Free States were in for one hell of a fight. At first, Casamir didn't care much about the war. After all, it wasn't like the NUSA would ever *actually* make it to Night City. But as the early months of the war dragged on, and the NUSA claimed victory after victory, Casamir began to become afraid of the war coming to his home, and so, Casamir Saric joined the Free States military.

Casamir started his military career like many more from Night City - infantry. He was given a gun, armour and told to march. Not that he minded, he was a merc after all, combat was hardly something new. But as the months rolled on and the NUSA kept pushing with their Militech support and tech, the Free States started to grow desperate. That's where Arasaka came in.

One of Arasaka's 'advisers' met with Casamir, and told him that he and select others had been chosen to undergo special training and augmentation; those that successfully completed these trials would be formed into a new division of the Free States forces.

Over the next few days, Casamir was carved up like a piece of meat. His arms, legs, joints and skeleton, all being replaced or upgraded with cyberware. And then, finally, the true gem was added to his body. He wasn't told much about it, besides that it was a combat enhancement designed to give the user brief moments of heightened adrenaline, as well as boosting aggression and inhibiting pain: the "Berserker" implant, they said.

Hours of surgery later, Casamir woke up with his head pounding, screaming even - he felt like his it would explode! But the implantation had been a success and Casamir found himself a member of the Free States new Berserker Division, and would now act as the Free States stormtroopers… Just in time for Ridgecrest.

#### The Battle of Ridgecrest

The single deadliest battle of the Unification War. Over 3000 dead in a single day. And Cas was right in thick of it. Casamir doesn't remember much, primarily due to the cocktail of combat stims and drugs his division were given before battle. After a while, he just let the Berserker implant take over. He occasionally gets flashes of memories from time to time. The smell of burning flesh, the sound of tanks firing, the feeling of a NUSA soldier's bones breaking beneath his chrome, this young soldier crying out for his mama before Casamir crushed his skull - it's was all like trying to remember a dream.
Casamir came back to full consciousness days after the battle ended, waking up in a medical tent. His body burned, his head pounding and his right eye missing. Doctors would tell him later that his synapses nearly burned out due to excessive use of his implant. That... that exact thing happened to more than 40% of his division. Even so, somewhere in that haze of smoke and blood, Ridgecrest had been a victory for the Free States. A pyrrhic victory, but a victory, nonetheless. In the end, it didn't even matter. The NUSA managed to reach the walls of Night City a few months later anyway. When the news reached Casamir, he tried to return, but his body was still too weak, he could barely walk, let alone drive. And so, he waited. That was when Arasaka showed their hand, parking their carrier in Night City's bay, just daring Myers and her NUSA boys to march on the city. And like that, the Unification War ended, and so did Casamir's free medical care. He found himself dumped outside a military hospital without a ride back to Night City. Luckily some ex-panzerboys by the names Mitch and Scorpion helped him out. They gave him a ride back home, and after a year of war, Cas was back home.

### Life as a Solo

In 2087, Casamir took cleaner jobs, less morally bankrupt and more morally ambiguous. After the better part of a year of smaller gigs, proving he was still the man the Fixers remembered, Cas was finally given a proper job... With a condition. He would be paired up with a rookie, something Casamir was less than thrilled about. The job was practically made for him, a Badlands ambush, but El Capitan was the fixer, and his way goes. That was when Casamir met Carlos Domingo, the Vista Del Rey native.

At first Cas didn't think much of him. He knew Carlos' type: 'all balls and no brain'. It also didn't help that he wanted to drive - something Cas shut down real quick, making it crystal clear that "One of them would be cold in the ground before he let a greenhorn from Heywood drive him anywhere". Despite his expectations, Carlos performed well on the job, and after weeks of him constantly barraging Casamir with requests to help him on jobs and even gate-crashing his gigs, Casamir admired his gumption. And so, after they had been paid, Casamir sat the kid down at a bar and laid out how this "partnership" was going to work.

Rule#1: No stupid questions: Carlos was not to pry into Casamir's past, if Casamir wanted him to know something, he would tell him.

Rule#2: The pay cut for the gigs would start at 70/30, seeing as most of the gigs would be due to Casamir's rep, not Carlos'. When Carlos starts bringing jobs, the cut would increase to 50/50.

Rule#3: No Corp gigs.

Rule#4: Carlos is never driving.

## Personality

A quiet and stoic man, Casamir carries himself with a confidence that only years of life in a hellhole like Night City can give. Yet, he lacks the arrogance that so many others in his profession swagger around with (something that wasn't always the case).

Casamir is a man who has made many mistakes in his life, and knows it, but is determined and certain that he is not beyond improvement. If anything, he has a responsibility to better himself.

As a merc, Casamir is very much a man of action rather than words. He doesn't care for bragging or bluster, believing that words count for very little in his line of work. A talented merc, with a reputation for professionalism and a willingness to go the extra mile to ensure a client is happy and that a job is done right. In his mind that's what separates the great from the good, the willingness to get the job done right and not cut corners.

Despite his newfound (or newly reawakened) morality, Casamir is not naïve; He is well aware of where he lives and what he does for a living. Don't mistake him striving to be a better person as him turning into some kind of pacifist or coward, he is more than willing to use violence and even kill if he must.

Casamir is not perfect however, far from it, he still struggles every day. From chronic pain due to his implant, from PTSD and other traumas from his past, and from the hardships that come to all recovering addicts. Beyond those, Casamir still very much has a burning temper, be that due to his berserk implant, or perhaps something more primal, and while he may have a greater degree of control than he has in the past, he still has his moments. Besides his anger, Casamir is also prone to bouts of melancholy, remembering all he has lost, and all he has left to do. All the moments he missed and all he fucked up.

Despite this, Casamir still has a lighter side, particularly around those he is closest to. He can still be playful and quick witted, though his humour is rather dry, as expected from a merc. And while he used to be a party animal, he now prefers quiet moments with friends who he truly feels care about him and who he cares about in turn.

He is also a very, *very* spiritual man, holding his faith and superstitions close to his heart, despite the age he is living in and despite what other people may think. These can be admittedly strange at times, particularly when he calls back to his old Oracle Mysticism, but it's Casamir, and say what one must, he has never pretended to be anyone but himself.

In short, Casamir is a man who walked through a trial by fire and burnt up along the way. Now he is working to reforge his ashes into something meaningful, however long it takes.