New Mage character

I have been developing a new Live Action Role Play character for Mage: The Awakening. This is strictly out of character knowledge.

Doctor Jeremiah Valentine Junior aka Doctor Brisbane Bones

Concept: Fundamentalist Mysterium Archaeomancer [pp136-142 MTA:The Mysterium], initiate into the Legacy of the Eyes of Ain Soph [pp166-169 MTA:The Mysterium], member of the cult of the Global Organisation for the Protection of Historical and Ethno-cultural Relics (GOPHER) [pp159-160 MTA: The Mysterium] and ex-Blackwater Worldwide Mercenary.

Inspirations

Rick Deckard from Blade Runner

The Jeremiah character follows the model of a film noir detective, mixing pursuit of clues and interviewing suspects with brutal violence. Like many noir heroes, he finds it hard to turn down a "damsel in distress," when she asks for his help.

Indiana Jones from Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom and the Last Crusade

The Jeremiah character uses the strong-jawed heroes of the pulps such as Indiana Jones, Doc Savage and the Shadow as a template. Banter and teamwork are central to achieving his objectives. However, he also has a deep family side to his character.

Johnston Jacob "Jake" Green, Jr. from the television series Jericho

The Jeremiah character carries a mysterious background, full of questionable actions linked to Blackwater that haunt his current decisions. However, he retains links to the Canberra community; many who respect and know his father have high expectations of Jeremiah Junior.

Timeline

Born 1974

• Jeremiah had a full academic childhood – Jeremiah Senior, a lecturer in Ancient and Medieval History, taught Ancient Greek, Latin and Sanskrit to Junior before he could walk. His father also exposed Jeremiah to a wide range of media and knowledge before Jeremiah could even comprehend what he was seeing. Jeremiah Senior, a member of the Mysterium and the Legacy of Eyes of Ain Soph was endeavouring to awaken his sleeper son. This did not cease until the boy eventually made his own escape from the family home.
• His mother, Emma Valentine, was an active environmentalist and historian, she instilled in Junior a love of history and the need to preserve it so that we may learn and grow, and not repeat past mistakes.

1978-1990 School

• Although brilliant at school, Jeremiah was distant from his classmates and teachers. In the summer of 1991 both Jeremiah Junior and Senior were taken by surprise when Emma died while giving birth to Jeremiah Junior’s sister, Sarah Valentine, who lived for five minutes on life support before also passing away.
• Jeremiah Junior blamed his father for the death of his mother. Telling Jeremiah Senior that his father’s work and commitment to his teaching and research blinded him to his wife’s frailty during the pregnancy (due to an undiagnosed heart condition) - Jeremiah Junior then abandoned the family home to travel.

1990-92 Years in Central America

• While traveling in Central America Jeremiah joined GOPHER and took part in an expedition to secure a Mayan Temple complex and indigenous tribal lands from a mining enterprise. During the ensuing blockades, violence, burnings and murders Jeremiah befriended and eventually fell for fellow activist and archaeology graduate Jane Goldstein.
• Unknown to Jeremiah the expedition he was part of was under the lead and authority of members of the Mysterium, who controlled GOPHER. The expedition was intent on securing a number of passageways that led underground and then around the complex – each containing complex texts marked on the walls in Atlantaean – not Mayan - hieroglyphs.
• During the ensuing violence, Jane Goldstein and Jeremiah took shelter in the cave complex. Infested with snakes, the complex was a greater challenge than the two imagined, compounded by explosives sealing them in. While trying to find a path out Jane was bitten a number of times and died in agony in Jeremiah’s arms before rescuers could free them. Jeremiah fought off the snakes with fire and was himself bitten but survived.
• While lying against a wall in the caves, Jane in his arms, Jeremiah saw the Atlantean script, bewildered by it as he was still unawakened, only his dying girlfriend stopped him from committing as much of it to memory as possible. Moreover, once the rescue party found him – headed by a member of the Mysterium – Jeremiah Junior had his mind wiped of the Atlantean script. Unfortunately, due to the strong emotions he was feeling while trapped, the texts embedded themselves in his subconscious and, once he began his training with the Mysterium, manifested in a fixation on discovering all he could about Atlantis.

1992-1995 BA (Honours)

• Returning from travels and work Jeremiah remained troubled by the death of Jane. None-the-less he followed in his father’s footsteps enrolling at the Australian National University (ANU) where he studied a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Archaeology, Latin, Ancient Greek and Sanskrit.
• While studying he also joined the ANU shooting club and represented the University annually at the Australian University Games.
• Through-out this period he refused contact with his father, now a Professor of Ancient and Medieval History as well as Latin at ANU.
• Again, Jeremiah remained distant from the majority of students and staff alike, though he did eventually befriend fellow Archaeology student Emily White and the two fell in love.
• Throughout this period, Jeremiah continued his volunteer work with GOPHER – providing support to their small office based at the ANU campus.

1996-1998 MA

• After graduating from ANU Jeremiah and Emily moved to Sydney University where both had won scholarships; Jeremiah to study a Masters in Archaeology and Emily a Masters in Latin and Ancient Greek.
• During this time, both also joined the Army Reserve – Jeremiah eventually ending up in the reserve Commando Regiment.
• Towards the end of 1998 Jeremiah Awakened. The experience was unsettling for Jeremiah and he submitted his Masters before breaking with the distraught Emily and traveling to Nepal and India where he settled into a life of climbing and smoking pot.

1998-2001 Nepal, India, Indonesia and the Commandos

• During this period, Jeremiah encountered a senior member of the Mysterium – Jules Brown. Unknown to Jeremiah Junior this individual had been sent by his father Jeremiah Senior. Jules trained the newly awakened Mage for three years, exploring Buddhist and Hindu Temples with him and initiating Jeremiah into the Legacy of the Eyes of Ain Soph.
• While in Nepal Jeremiah trekked with fellow Mysterium member Flux – both were following up on a Buddhist temple rumoured to contain an antiquity – a small statue of Buddha - bearing a language untranslatable. Jeremiah was part of the expedition as a GOPHER representative, Flux to translate if the rumour was true. After some difficulties, the two eventually obtained the item, translated it and returned it to Mysterium archives.
• Late in 2000, Jeremiah re-initiated contact with Emily and the two met in Bandung, Indonesia, before returning to Australia. The two regularly traveled to Indonesia through to October 2002 when the Bali terrorist attack caught them both – Emily was killed and Jeremiah severely wounded.
• Jeremiah maintained a disturbing calm throughout the following funeral and then entered the Commandos fulltime – when the Australian Army was committing to Operation Slipper in Afghanistan Jeremiah ensured that he went.

2001-2005 Gulf War and Blackwater USA (now Blackwater Worldwide)

• The commitment of Australian forces to Iraq saw Jeremiah transferred to an over-watch role in support of the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR). During this time he served with distinction and came to the attention of Al Clark, one of the founders of Blackwater, and was offered a contract.
• In late 2003, still angry, though not showing it, a deeply distraught, Jeremiah left the commandos and entered Blackwater USA.
• With Blackwater Jeremiah fulfilled two important roles, one, he liaised heavily with GOPHER and two, he guarded a great many high-value targets.
• GOPHER contracted Blackwater a number of times in Iraq to secure special items and locations, especially during the heated and violent looting of the late stages of the war and early years of the occupation – Jeremiah was always involved in these contracts.
• When not connected to GOPHER Jeremiah was engaged in convoy duty and subsequently involved in a number of highly questionable fire-fights on the streets of Fallujah and Baghdad.

2005-2007 PhD

• By early 2005 Jeremiah realised he had no long-term future in Blackwater. During his time there he had enjoyed the liaison work between GOPHER and Blackwater the most, especially when he was directly involved in unearthing something new for the Mysterium, he therefore returned to Australia and enrolled in a PhD at the University of Sydney.
• He spent his time at the University well, achieving spectacular results with his PhD, and being involved in digs in Cairo, Rome and Peru which gave the more mature archaeologist experience and exposure – all the while allowing him to continue his work for GOPHER.
• Jeremiah also made the occasional appearance as a guest lecturer around the country and internationally.
• At one of these lecturers, delivered at ANU, he taught a young man who would later become Crow a fellow member of the Mysterium.
• On several occasions, Jeremiah took note of intricate and elaborate graffiti springing up around the ANU campus, investigating Jeremiah tracked down a man who now goes by the name of Rune – the two struck up a friendship based on their interest in languages, ancient and modern and whenever Jeremiah would return to Canberra he would attempt to catch up with Rune.
• In 2007, he graduated and won a position as a Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology at ANU. He had now returned home, though he remained estranged from his father and deeply disturbed by the deaths of his mother, sister and two girlfriends.
• In Canberra he quickly connected once again to the local members of GOPHER as well as Canberra representatives of Blackwater and is seeking to entrench himself at the University – these three things he believes will give him a solid support base in Canberra to begin his research and effort to unearth items of power.