June 09, 2003
Character study - the Chief
The Chief is in charge of the State. He doesn't muck around. In a few years Cityscape has exploded into the tourist mecca of the Net and it's because of him. The Chief is at the peak of his power and he's not aware of it. He is cool, smart, stylish and 100% obsessed with the idea that he will control the minds of everyone in his town.
The Chief was born to be an authority figure. He started out in tech but moved swiftly up the ranks of engineers once he realised where the real power lay. He didn't invent the RIG but everyone thinks he did.The hackers that worked for him were the first inmates of Interlink. In return for their ultimate fantasies, bandwidth paid, the Chief keeps them under mental lock and key.
The price the Chief has paid is isolation. He knows that he only holds onto power by the sheer force of his personality and that he can't slip up. Trust is not a concept he adopts easily. He wishes he could trust someone. He wants to be able to teach someone what it's like to create a world and rule it but there is no one in his league. He surrounds himself with obsessives, they follow in his slipstream but don't interfere. Until Blade.
The Chief wants to convert Blade. He does his damndest to tempt him. The Chief is ancient offline. He can barely move without assistance from his nurse. To make contact with a sharp young mind is his last chance to connect with a world that he has fought so long to conquer. Too bad that he can't let go of the ego. The Chief's weaknesses are ego and greed. He wants a prodigee and he wants ultimate power.