Alexander Dean Ryder

## Alexander "Alec" Dean Ryder

Alexander Dean Ryder ("Alec") is a human Mad Scientist recently moved to Hong Kong. Hailing from NYC, he moved to Hong Kong at the behest of (and with the aid of) the Harmony Society. Alec currently runs a repair shop in a lower-class area of the city.

## Background

> Born to Dean and Alicia Ryder of Oklahoma. The couple are a pair of *very* wealthy ranch owners in the Great Plains. Unfortunately, their wealth led to a great deal of business that kept them away from home and their young son for much of his childhood.
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With no siblings, the young Alexander (Alec to his friends), was left in the care of ranch hands and tutors. He was quiet as a child, with interests in both science and literature. Alec kept to himself, with only a handful of friends and none who were close.

He went to university at Stanford, where he achieved a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering. While he'd always had a curious way with machines and building, his abilities as an esoteric ("mad") scientist did not manifest until during his final year of schooling. While there are reports of some damage, no injuries or loss of life were documented at the time.

After graduation, he went to work for Stanford as a part of the research staff. In the off-hours, he rented a small space in a local building for use as a personal engineering lab. It was during this time that he was approached by representatives of Harmony and subsequently recruited for a modest additional pay.

Tragedy hit after a few years of this. Alec was developing an experimental interdimensional transport system which both succeeded and failed. It did connect him with a parallel reality, but the device malfunctioned and exploded, damaging the building and claiming the lives of two other occupants.

Alec, torn by grief and guilt, was moved (or perhaps banished) to Hong Kong by Harmony, where he has set up a small repair shop.

## Personality

Friendly, but subdued. Tends to be a wallflower in social situations, and rarely instigates interactions. Will respond to flirting (Note: he’s gay, so...plan accordingly?), but it has to be fairly obvious. Tends to live in his own head, so often trails off during conversations as he gets distracted by his own thoughts.

## Abilities

* **Repairs**: Alec is excellent at mundane repairs. Has a particular knack for weapons and vehicles, but generally can repair pretty much anything to run better than before.
* **Inventing**: Can create small mechanical devices on the fly using available components. The more complex they are, the greater the chances of them failing.
* **Mad-Mode**: This is the big one. When Alec goes full Mad Scientist, he can create things that shouldn’t exist, and should never be able to function. One of his most successful inventions is a version of Psycho-Pass’ Dominator gun, that is capable essentially microwaving and boiling the liquid inside a target in just a few seconds. When used on living tissue the result is….explosive.

Note: Mad-Mode does tap into chaotic energies, meaning that inventions don’t always work the way they are supposed to, or even work at all. Said creations may even fail in spectacularly damaging ways. When they do work, however, they can turn the tide of battle instantly.