Janus Filipowski

"Cobalt" - Fixer

Eastern European (Polish)

Personality: Intellectual and detached

Clothes: Nomad Wear - White Eagles (Northern Badlands)

Distinctive: Tattoos (arm sleeves, a sun on the left part of neck He works out of a local bar, Remy’s)

Motivation – Money/family (making the venture a success)

Feel about most people – obstacles to be destroyed if they cross me

Thing Most Valued – Little brother (a tech with the pack) – (Bogdan)

Most valued possession: Clothing – a cobalt blue striped jumper

Original Background: combat zone – family exiled

Childhood Environment: Reclaimer town

Friends: None

Enemies:

·      Corporate Exec – framed me for a crime – backed by a small corporation – avoid!

·      Uncle (Szymon) – wouldn’t give him a job – backed by cousin (David) – backstab indirectly

Love affairs: None

Life goal: Gain enough money to save me and brother, and family.

Fixer: Operate several (2) Night markets as “manager” – start of family pipeline of gear into Night City, he is not an owner (so gets no cut…yet).

Partner: Yes – Miranda (?), possible romantic partner, mob connections,

Office: Booth at a local bar

Side clients: TBC – based on markets

Gunning: Gangers who want exclusive pipeline for the goods (Tyger Claws)

Background

Janusz was always a smart kid – he kept his eyes open, loved looking at the few books around, and kept his ears open, listening to and evaluating people as they talked.

Precocious, he nearly didn’t make through his rough upbringing in the combat zones – the fortified building in which he lived nearly falling to gangers on many nights- and though clever, his curiosity nearly got him killed a number of times. The only thing that kept him alive was the fact that his little brother Bogdan would tag along and Janusz would never get Bogdan into too much danger – instead they would quietly watch the sentries, and hide if the firing got too much…

He never quite knew what got him and his family exiled – one terrifying morning, there was shouting, and the family were bundled up, grabbed what they could carry, and fled through the streets until they hit the outskirts.

His father (Chrystian) caught a bullet in the leg, and never walked right again. His uncle Tymoteusz (Tim) was caught and taken on the way by (cannibal?) gangers on the outskirts, and another (Antoni) was beaten so badly he was never quite right again…

The family coalesced around the women, his mother (Wioleta), and Aunts Stefania and Marta – they found themselves further and further south of the city... making their way out until they found a Reclaimer town and put themselves to work, joining an Eastern European group, making it a little collective (New Krakow). This group began first to explore other cities and find caches of equipment- eventually, to run supplies, food and drugs to other nearby towns… and then eventually… back into Night City.

The upbringing, the terror, the need to survive… focused Janusz on staying cool, detached, calculating the odds and the terms of a deal. He fell in with the traders, the bribers, the wheeler-dealers… he loved the idea of having an army to protect his family, but he also wouldn’t put too much on others. In New Krakow… everyone worked, everyone fought.

Along with his Aunt Marta, he was sent to Night City to set up a pipeline of goods, working to establish Night Markets over the last 9-12 months. He still wears Nomad gear – he is both a bit proud of the roots, likes the advertisement, and knows he gets underestimated. He also has tattoos of family allegiance, loyalty, and rites of passage.

He is very much the manager rather than the owner/instigator, but has partnered with a sexy local named (Miranda) who seems to have mob contacts – they manage the markets together. It seems Marta made a deal to pay off some of the local mob for protection and support (Maelstrom). The two have flirted and work together well, and Janusz (or “Cobalt” as he calls himself) imagines perhaps a romance (for the first time in his life)

They work out of a local bar, Remy’s- the owner, Patrick, is a large New Orleans-African man who keeps his mouth shut but seems to know every cocktail under the sun. The bar is currently under the protection of Maelstrom. The problem is, the gang that runs Kabuki in south Watson, the Tyger Claws, have started to make inroads into Maelstrom's territory, and they are the gangers Cobalt and Miranda have fallen afoul of. They don't take being told "No" well.

His Uncle (Szymon) and cousin (David) wanted in – Janusz convinced the family not to send them, as he thinks Szymon a complete fuck-up… all talk, no delivery, always wanting the easy way rather than working hard and sticking at it. David is well-meaning but slightly stupid (and J thinks him an annoying little shit).

The minor corp that you framed Cobalt was Fuyutsuki Electronics, who got his clan to smuggle in what was supposed to be just some BD sheaths (Braindance viewers) that were bypassing sales tax but were in fact experimental BD sheaths stolen from Arasaka. The exec who hired Cobalt, Hora Takakazu, took delivery, paid half the money and "gifted" Cobalt one of the BD sheaths as the rest of the payment (easily worth 4 times what was owed but this was not the original deal), and then threw Cobalt and his clan under the bus by alerting Arasaka to the fact that he had one of their sheaths. Arasaka came in guns blazing to try to capture him and the tech. They got the tech, and Cobalt (and Miranda) only just got away with their skins intact thanks to some last minute help from a Maelstrom ganger called Bullseye.