Dr. Ortiz Character in Shadowrun: Spirits of Raleigh | World Anvil
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Dr. Ortiz

Dr. Kenneth Ortiz (a.k.a. Soan Théberge)

Written by: Null Kit

  The nature of corporations putting holy profit before as many ethics as they can get away with makes the continued existence of men like Dr. Ortiz an inevitability. In another time, if a talented doctor was found guilty of illegal human-experimentation based on occultic superstition, they would likely be fired, arrested and have their licenses revoked, if only because there's just enough accountability for a corporation to at least make a public show of wagging their finger at unethical ractices they most likely endorced in secret. In the sixth world however, if you're a talented doctor and you've been caught performing illegal experimentation based on occultic superstition, you get a change of identity and a bigger lab.   At least, that's the theory.   If there was any concrete evidence that the de-facto head of the Evo Metahuman-Architectural Haven was the infamous Soan Théberge then there's no doubt EVO have taken great pains to scrub it clean. After all, while 'Doctor' Théberge was almost certainly psychiatrically disturbed, there was no doubt that he was a twisted pioneer in matters of biotech and geneology, even if such breakthroughs were an unintentional side-effect of his desire to break into the 'Genes of Paradise'. Regardless, owing to the overwhelming circumstantial evidence (and the utter lack of evidence regardiing Ortiz's history amidst the time Théberge was active that isn't an obviously prefabbed biography), we will be presenting this article under the assumption that the two men are one and the same.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Aside from recent leaks regarding certain cosmetic procedures, current knowledge on Ortiz's physical health is currently only a matter of conjecture and assumption, but even cursory glances would suggest a great degree of cybernetic augmentation from the neck down, assumptions purported by the many vials of EVO TechHealth anti-rejection drugs he has been seen carrying and applying to himself in large amounts.
Evidence of internal enhancement is visibly apparent around his neck alone: EVO sells a cybersuite that incorporates both a set of FastLife wired-reflexes system with an Evolympus PM-3 Datajack and has a visibly unique external-casing to intergrate the two cyberware systems into the same area. As well, cursory observations of his exposed knuckles and wrists show discoloration telling of polymer bone-lacing.
— Frangelico
That's a pretty astute observation, but also pretty terrifying.
— Redhat

Mental characteristics

Personal history

For those who aren't familiar with the purported first-life of Ortiz, I'll provide a brief refresher: In the French city of Nice, 2075, an EVO corpsec by the name of Laure Pinette had a suspicion that one of the head-researchers of the city's biotech divisions, Dr. Soan Théberge, was doing illicit business on the side. As Laure wasn't very high in the corporate hierarchy and Théberge was at the time a well respected expert in two of EVO's more prominent medical fields, it as up to Laure and Laure alone to investigate the matter with discretion, lest she destroy her career with an unfounded accusation.   Pinette slowly and carefully gathered evidence over several weeks, clandestinely monitoring Théberge's movements, until she managed to find the evidence she needed, in the form of semi-regular trips to a second home in the outer suburbs of Nice coinciding with discreet loaning of medical equipment for the unspecified reason of 'research', nothing material but enough circumstantial evidence to convince her superior she had probable-cause to investigate the isolated abode. When she and her backup arrived, Théberge was spotted in one of the windows sprinting down into the basement, something Pinette considered suspicious enough to warrant direct investigation when Théberge opened the front door in a visible state of unease.   While one of the officers sat Théberge down in the kitchen, Pinette and a fellow officer investigated the basement, and came across the door of an old bomb-shelter, closed and locked tight. Théberge was initially beligerent, but after suspiciously little coercing gave up the combination to the lock. Inside, Pinette discovered that the interior of the shelter had been converted into a cramped and secure surgical theater, its every surface as clean as the clinics in EVO's own buildings, save for the stains left by a mutilated dwarven child left restrained on the bed in the center.   Théberge was unsettlingly calm and made no attempts at resisting arrest as backup and a medivac were called to the house, and began quietly explaining everything to the officer infront of him, as he did later to every authority figure who had questioned him: He was convinced that DNA and genetic coding were always magic since before the Awakening of 2012, and that the sudden genetic expression of humans turning into various metahuman species was both a natural and supernatural phenomenon, as the two were intertwined, and conducted his 'research' beneath his house to find what he hoped would be the secret to awakening and manipulating metahuman genes in all of mankind, to lead the best of humanity towards their 'destiny' of becoming immortal elves. Or, something to all of that tune.
His manifesto's online these days, just Joogle his name and it's like the first or second result.
— Cr4nk
Wiith the confession of his motives and later his confession of the dozens of 'undesirables' he had kidnapped and murdered in unanestheseised explorative surgery over a span of six years, Théberge's fate seemed sealed. Indeed, a man named Soan Théberge was sent to the La Sante prison for a lifelong sentence, where he was brutally killed by another inmate infront of dozens of witnesses. That seemed to be the end of Soan's story, until recently.   Later that year, in distant Raleigh North Caroina, the Evo Metahuman-Architectural Haven had opened in full, having gathered a roster of some of the corporation's best and brightest from across the globe. The two couldn't be any less connected, until an employee within the arcology's R&D labs (who has requested to remain unnamed) made an anonymous social-media post comparing the physical appearance of their manager to that of the late Soan Théberge on an underground social-media host in Raleigh's local grid. By coincidence, a local aficionado in conspiracy-theories was anonymously browsing at the time and on a whim, decided to actually take a look into the vague similarity, and the matter quietly gained traction away from EVO's inquisitive eyes.
I got twenty bucks that the anonymous conspiracy-nut was Null Kit, and he wrote this entire article up to boast.
— Cr4nk
And to everyone's surprise, there was actually a surprising amount of circumstantial evidence that lended credence to the theory that the man in question, Dr. Kenneth Ortiz, wasn't who EVO was claiming them to be: Along with the superficial similarity, a recent data-leak of clandestine surgical procedures (the same leak that exposed William Black as being connected to anti-human policlubs) showed Ortiz as having discreetly gone under the needle for cosmetic work before his employment, observed social-media hubs have co-workers describing his accent and dialect as sounding like an affectation, and most curious of all, a (now revised) page of his biographical information was found to have been word-for-word taken from the biography of another EVO employee, save for important names and nouns switched, and taking credit for several breakthroughs once attributed to Théberge at the end of his own career.   Regardless, even if we take all this talk of Théberge out of the equation, Ortiz is nontheless a man worth keeping an eye on. His efforts at remaining nondescript despite the inconsistencies of his character are suspect enough.

Education

Ortiz publically holds a master's degree in both medical-science and biotechnology from the UNC School of Medicine.

Employment

Allegedly a former research-technician from EVO's Texas branch, Ortiz is currently a Research and Development Manager at the EVO Metahuman-Architectural Haven.
Metatype
Human
Ethnicity
European Caucasian
Year of Birth
2029 51 Years old
Children
Pronouns
He/Him
Eyes
Brown, Prosthetic
Hair
Black
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Tanned
Height
6'2''
Weight
208 lb.
Known Languages
English, Spanish, possibly French?
Theberge Moshed.jpg
Portrait-Photo of Dr. Soan Théberge, four months prior to his arrest.

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