Paradox

**"Paradox"** is an independent journalist, vigilante and private detective operating in Nemesis City, where he works tirelessly to expose the crimes of the Nemesis Group and spark revolution among the city's downtrodden populace.

## Biography

### Early Life & Background

Little is known about Paradox, including his real name and what sparked his mission to expose the Nemesis Group. It is possible, given his fighting skill and knowledge of sabotage, that he served in the Fifth Corporate War, the horrors of which birthed his vendetta against corporations and end-stage capitalism in general. It is also possible that he was involved in arts and entertainment, which drove him to create a free pirate radio station to spread his message of protest.

### The Good Fight

#### The Fight Begins

Nearly 30 years after Nemesis City was founded by the mysterious Nemesis Group, the city had become a hive of crime, corruption and division. What was supposed to be a new lease on life for a damaged and defeated Earth had transformed into just another monument to mankind's mistakes, masked as a thriving metropolis that pulled in the desperate and the downtrodden only to exploit them for every credit they had. Frustrated and vengeful at the callousness and corruption of the city's corporate overlords, Paradox decided to start a protest movement that would grow into a revolution.

He began as an independent reporter, free from the rules and limitations of the corporate-owned media that spread the Nemesis Group's propaganda. He would interview everyone from homeless junkies to wealthy hedge fund managers, hiding himself with a series of aliases. When these fake names proved to be ineffective, he turned to facial masking technology; the ocular implants that most citizens wore would be unable to see his face beneath a mess of pixels. Despite several attempts by the law to decode Paradox's face, he remained an enigma.

Nonetheless, his efforts only resulted in a few clicks and a passing mention on one of the smaller corporate news outlets. It wasn't until Paradox attended one of Gallowglass' first performances in a dive bar that he thought of a better way to spread his message: a pirate radio station, one fully under his control, that would play popular music interspersed with recorded interviews, exposés and calls to action. He would draw in his audience - primarily consisting of rockers and other subscribers to the city's counterculture - with the music and engage them with his words of rebellion. Calling in a few favours resulted in his ownership of a secluded and secure workshop from which he would broadcast his network: Forbidden FM. Knowing that every station needed a charismatic host, he took on the name "Paradox".

#### The Fight Grows

Forbidden FM worked exactly as planned: people were drawn in by the music Paradox broadcasted, primarily bootleg recordings of live performances as well as tunes that had been blacklisted by the mainstream radio networks. Between the tunes, Paradox would play interviews of downtrodden citizens, leak tax records of wealthy CEOs, provide evidence of police brutality, and bring to light the dangers of a subscription-based health care system. Everything he exposed was linked to the Nemesis Group in some manner, and slowly a protest movement calling themselves the Good Fight formed as a result of his broadcasts. The Good Fight consisted of people whose professions ranged from pencil-pushers to influencial fixers in the criminal underworld, all of whom were hungry to bring down the powerful.

Soon Paradox found himself associating with "Mama" Serrano, a fixer who ran one of the largest Latin American gang networks in Nemesis City and was viewed by many as a "Robin Hood" figure. In keeping with her reputation, Serrano endorsed the Good Fight and provided Paradox contacts with fixers, criminals and hackers that were sympathetic - or, occasionally, outright supportive - to his cause. They provided Paradox with the resources and manpower he required to conduct private investigations into corporate affairs, exposing them for the good of the people. On some nights he would conduct vigilante activities, mostly against criminals that believed themselves to be immune to justice and the law; his vigilantism won him support from both the common folk and a few disgruntled officers in the NCPD.