Vox Tempest

The owner of the most infamous nightclub this side of the galaxy, and fixer-extraordinaire. The guy who always knows *exactly* what will make you happy, most likely through the medium of your favourite drink. His general charm and easy-going demeanor mask the fact that his entire identity and past is just one clusterfuck of lies.

## Appearance

Middle-Eastern skin, 6'1, very slim/lithe build. Typically very smartly dressed, usually wearing some ridiculously flashy suit and mostly unbuttoned shirt.

Has incredibly vivid violet blue cyber-eyes, forcibly installed on him by HelixCorp. Frequently flicker and rotate.

Heavily tattooed - most noticeably a swallow on the right side of his neck, as well as a red lipstick kiss tattoo between the left side of his neck and his clavicle. Both arms have full sleeves - one gambling themed, the other time themed. Full chest piece featuring stars and hearts. Right hand has a rose tattoo, the left has a skull. Has 'OVER' tattooed on knuckles of one hand, and 'COME' on the other. Intended to read 'OVERCOME' but reads 'COME OVER' when he crosses his arms. Has Terra's name tattooed in a heart on his left ass cheek - he lost a bet.

Marked by a tattoo on the small of his back from HelixCorp of the Tree of Life. When accessed via a complicated series of precise touches by a HelixCorp employee, appears as a hologram before folding and unfolding to form a Helix strand, allowing the employee to retrieve the data stored by his eyes. Has been tattooed over with a different tree motif, covering nearly his entire back.

Tends to wear a ridiculous amount of rings on each finger.

## History

Vox was originally born in the year 1568 on Earth, a member of the Romani people. The CEO of HelixCorp, Sera, identified him as the Thief in the prophecy of The Thief's Death, and thus traveled back to the year 1569 where she stole an infant Vox from his family in order to thwart Triade's plans. She brought him forwards to Phobos, in the year 268 of the Systems era, and left him to be raised by the homeless population of the Tsovaworks, hoping that by doing so, he would remain off grid and off Triade's radar.

He was thus raised on the streets of the Tsovaworks, along with the other slum-dwellers with nowhere else to turn. He mostly managed to get by given his penchant for quick thinking, and ability to talk himself out (or into) most situations.

Vox was 15 when he was taken a second time by HelixCorp as part of their secret human biotech experiments. He was held captive and they force-installed their latest design on him, a type of cyber-eyes that allowed human beings themselves to be scanned with only a glance. He was kept under the careful eye of a man he only knew of as Rinzler. Vox was kept there for five years, before he eventually broke free - or so he thought. In reality, HelixCorp had simply set it up to allow Vox to think he'd escaped of his own volition. Unbeknownst to him, Rinzler keeps a careful watch of him and the data he collects to this day.

Upon 'escaping' HelixCorp, Vox struggled to adapt for several months - after all, he'd been removed from the everyday going-on's of Phobos for five years, and as such, no longer knew the city half as well as he used to. However, he soon realised his unwanted 'gift' from HelixCorp had its benefits - he had an uncanny habit of knowing exactly what it was that people wanted, the best way to go about getting a person to do what he wanted, his usual honeyed tongue suddenly sugared to the point that *no one* said no to him anymore. Realising this, Vox set up something of an information brokerage - he was good at arranging deals, even better at getting people to reveal their secrets in exchange for something more. There was money to be made for this, and the former street rat gradually found his fortunes accumulating as he kept the trade of information flowing.

Five years ago, Vox had earned enough money to finally act upon his newfound dream - open up a nightclub in The Overhang district. He began his business alongside a particular mouthy robot named Terra he'd encountered at another bar, and hired him as his head bartender. Maelstrom was his baby, offering the opportunity to leave his past behind him, and he pours nearly all his energy into it. Still, the opportunist side of Vox wasn't quite satisfied with just running a nightclub, and he continues to try and cash in just that little bit *extra* on the side - by way of continuing his information brokering trade, and deal-making via his employees.

Dispirited by the general emptiness that the majority of his relationships consisted of, and the lack of meaning in his life, Vox throws his lot in with The Nova in the hopes that he will find some kind of direction. Given what was done to him, he feels it's his duty to *finally* start pushing back against the corruption that dominates the system. After all, if he can break free of corporate control, why can't anyone else?

## Employees

* Terra - Head bartender - Robot
* Crystal Symphony - Head dancer - Human
* Crunch - Head bouncer - Glutt
* Crush - Dancer - Glutt
* Volt - DJ - Robot
* Jolt - DJ - Robot
* Clout - Bouncer - Umak
* Gimble - Bartender
* Boombox - Thinks He Works There

## Trivia

* Ridiculously flashy ride, by the name of 'Stella'. Both the lighting inside and the exterior paint colour can be controlled by a gradient pad within the car controls. Useless for stealth missions despite this, as the car is a custom model and is thus recognisable immediately upon sight.
* Photograph on his desk of himself and Terra, both hoisting champagne bottles, in front of Maelstrom on the day it opened.
* Accidental dad of Lumen. Ends up being a little bit *too* strict, although it's born out of genuine worry given his own history as a HelixCorp experiment.
* Vox tries to repress the trauma he suffered at the hands of Rinzler and HelixCorp via various unhealthy coping methods. One such tactic was to cut off everyone he knew in his life before being captured, meaning he severed contact with everyone he grew up. This has lead to many of his former friends, such as Taffy Flint, rightfully unimpressed with him.
* Vox has a team of people loyal to him, that follow him on more dangerous missions as his protection. They are lead by Maelstrom's head bouncer, Crunch. The rest of the group consists of Clout, Smash, Shank, Blaze, Brick, Whallop, Oatmeal, Pearl, and Schism. Only Crunch and Clout actually work at Maelstrom, the rest of the gang is made up of people who Vox has helped out over the years.
* Vox has entered into a relationship with Tailor Wren, the Captain of The Praetorian, due to being a fucking idiot.