Bryce
"Bryce" is the handle of one of the most popular—and hated—newsmen in the U.S. His real name is closely guarded by Net News 54 (it's rumored that Bryce is his real surname), and for security purposes, he has no permanent address.
Bryce's family disappeared during the earthquake which destroyed Los Angeles. He was found by corporate police who were "sweeping" transients for work in corporate labor facilities.
Younger than most of the juvies he was brought in with, Bryce got lucky, managing to become an office gopher at Petrochem's brutally infamous East Lubbock Work Facility. He got even luckier when a manager decided to adopt the boy—a stand-in son for his infertile wife. They moved east after scandal dosed the facility a few years later, his father becoming general manager for Petrochem New Jersey. Similar grim surroundings and hostile working conditions hardened his already bitter image of the corporate world.
Bryce's adoptive parents put him through good schools, and although they hoped he would join the Company, he took an interest in investigative journalism—not a good choice in a paranoid era where nothing is what it seems. Working on carefully sanitized, Company-school newspapers, Bryce managed to get expelled several times for running stories on the "no-go" list. After college, he was picked up by recruiters from Net News 54. Never forgetting his East Lubbock roots, Bryce immediately began investigating corporate mischief, making several enemies that first year and nearly getting fired twice. He knew that the corps weren't the only ones screwing up the world; the govemment was just as bad. In 2015, Bryce forced the governor of Florida to admit she had ordered the State Guard to attack his motel room during an investigation into dangerous genetic tampering with crops—courtesy of Biotechnica. By his third year, he'd earned the Corporate equivalent of a Pulitzer for his cover-age of the booster wars in Night City, often traveling with the gangs, interviewing the street movers and the heavy hitters on the spot in order to file his story.[1]
Operating Style
Bryce doesn't appear on a nightly basis. He files his column (daily in major screamsheets nationwide) from different locations. There's an office at the Net 54 News building in Night City—but he's never there. He just appears every few weeks on the seven o'clock news with a hard-hitting story—and the public loves it
Those who've worked with him say his personality is a little hard to swallow. He often gives the appearance of being a hyper-active maniac concerned only with ratings. He uses this cover image to his advantage, popping up when least expected in his quest for the truth. The networks have fried to pull his stories dozens of times—twice they succeeded, resulting in riots outside the studio. Bryce hasn't been seen on the air in two months, and reportedly he's looking for a good story. He can usually be reached by putting the word on the streets of selected cities (said locations deliberately leaked by himself).[1]
Stats
INT: 9, LUCK: 5, BOD: 7, TECH: 6, ATT: 7, Rep: 8, REF: 6, EMP: 7, COOL: 8, MA: 7.[1]
Skills
Credibility +7, Awareness +5, Composition +7, Education +4, Persuasion +7, Human Perception +5, Social +4, Streetwise +6, Photo & film +4, Interrogate +5, Library Search +5, Pistol +3, Brawling +5, Athletics +4, Rifle +1, Melee +4, Stealth +5[1]
Cyberware
Processor wPlugs (DataTerm link), Sandevistan Boost, optic (w/Video Transmitter, IE, TE ME, AD, TH), Cyberaudio (w/LD, SE DR options).[1]