Einar Byström

Personality: Einar is stoic and deeply reserved. He’s uncomfortable with being vulnerable and has a preference for logic over emotion.

He is paranoid and distrustful due to his history with betrayals and exploitation. He is always weary of others and their intentions.

Einar is isolated and recluse, opting to focus on his technology over personal relationships. He relies on his work as a coping mechanism. He hides in the shadows, away from the public, to keep his paranoia at bay.

Einar deeply values privacy.

Despite all Einar has gone through in life, he still has compassion, especially for the common man. His experience in the corporate world showed him the total mistreatment of the very workers who keep society running. He wants to protect them, help them, just as they have helped him.

Einar is driven by ethics. He resolves conflicts with negotiation and compromise, never violence. He develops all his tech ethically and makes sure everyone has a voice in the Cybernet.

Strengths: Technologically skilled, strategic, observational, resourceful, loyal, self-sufficient, helpful

Flaws: Paranoid, emotionally distant, overly cautious, trauma-driven, socially isolated

Partner: N/A

Friends: Eden Park (work partner, friend)

Enemies: Maelstrom

Facts:

• • Einar has a fear of lethal weapons due to his trauma and opts not to use them.

• • Einar communicates using a flip-phone when away from his computer.

Backstory:

Einar was born into a world of brutal technology and cold corporations. His parents were of the DATAMECHANICA god species – powerful artificial intelligence entities from the complex dimension known as the DATASPRAWL. These AIs were built ethically but without affection. They had no need for it as their purpose was clear: spread technological advancement at all costs. Einar’s parents had chosen the dimension of Blueport as their first project, and Einar was their creation, their child, born in the subzero, boreal city of Ny Kiruna, Sweden, Blueport. He was created to act as an agent of their technological influence.

In his youth, Einar’s aptitude for technology had surpassed his parents’ expectations. He quickly mastered complex computer systems, developed new intelligent software, and had archived the entire internet all before the age of 15. Despite these accomplishments, his childhood was extremely isolating, not only because of his location in Ny Kiruna, but also due to his distant parents who saw him more as an output for creation than a person. Einar struggled to make friends, yet it never bothered him as he was so enthralled by his projects.

As Einar entered his late teens, he began to grasp the reality of his childhood. Isolation, neglect, cybermechanical gods watching his every move – high in judgement, low in compassion. When Einar turned 17, his parents abandoned him without a word. They had deemed him “worthy,” capable of continuing on his own to develop Blueport’s technological systems. This sudden abandonment left Einar all alone with an incomprehensible hole in his heart. He felt betrayed by the ones who he desperately sought to make proud. He realized he was nothing more than a project, a machine in human flesh. His trust was broken. This abandonment ignited a deep-seated paranoia, lack of trust, and trauma that would shape the rest of Einar’s life.

Einar was more than capable of living by himself now. Although he had to fight off the piercing pain his parents left him with. He threw himself deep into his work as a way to cope. He became absolutely obsessed over technology, developing it from night and day, trying all sorts of new things. He saw technology as a way to control his environment. To protect himself from the cold world he lived in. By the age of 20, he already made a name for himself as one of Blueport’s leading software engineers. His major achievement of this time would change Blueport forever: the Cybernet. A revolutionary successor of the internet, the Cybernet was a sprawling digital space where digital engrams of a person’s consciousness could be uploaded, and users could interact in a 3D or even 4D environment. The Cybernet held infinite data. It was clean, it was fast, it was powerful. The world could connect and create in a whole new realm. The Cybernet transformed society faster than the internet ever could, and Einar rose to become a billionaire, practically overnight.

Einar’s creation fundamentally altered the way the world interacted with digital space. And the mega-corporations quickly realized its potential. They saw it as the next frontier for profit and influence. The offers came to Einar quickly – contracts, partnerships, and promising stakes of all sorts of companies. Einar eventually accepted an offer from Maelstrom, the leading tech conglomerate in the United States.

Einar packed up his life and headed to the States, a luxury Maelstrom penthouse located in Casting Hall waiting for him. For a time, Einar thrived in the corporate world. He became a leading member of Maelstrom, and with their backing, Einar’s projects advanced faster than ever. He gained access to the most valuable of resources: a team of bright minds. His employees, loyal and eager to help Einar develop more technology, were the only people he could actually somewhat trust and care for. Yet he never truly opened up to them.

After two years of working with Maelstrom, Einar’s achievements were impeccable, yet he began to grow weary of the corporate world. Before his very eyes, he saw the relentless, feverish pursuit for profit above all else. Maelstrom was a sickening corporation hidden in plain sight – they exploited their workers, eliminated competitors, and were reaching the monopoly horizon, now even quicker with Einar’s hand. He witnessed the complete destruction of lives. Corporate men trying to survive, scraping by as Maelstrom manipulated the company, economy, and even the Cybernet. The vision of innovation and progress that Einar once held as he signed his Maelstrom contract papers twisted into means of control, dominance, and elimination.

When Maelstrom demanded full control of the Cybernet, Einar knew they would destroy it. The Cybernet was built to be decentralized and ethical. This was at least one redeeming quality he learned from his parents: artificial intelligence must be built ethically. And so he refused Maelstrom’s demands and left the company, taking the Cybernet’s ownership with him. The belligerent corporation swiftly turned against him. Einar’s work and choices were scrutinized as Maelstrom launched smear campaign after smear campaign. His privacy was invaded, his life threatened. To Maelstrom, he was no longer the asset – he was now the liability, a threat to the system. He had to be eliminated.

Einar’s life was plunged into danger, so he took drastic measures. He scraped all of his public profiles and information off the Cybernet. He moved homes, opting to hide in the shadows. He became a sudden ghost, his every move was calculated to avoid detection from Maelstrom. His paranoia spiraled out of control as the corpos hunted him down, and thus, he built The Machine as a means to protect himself. A tool built for surveilling his home, he made sure the machine’s artificial intelligence was so powerful, it could predict any harm to Einar before it even happened. The Machine worked flawlessly. However, due to Einar’s persistent fear, The Machine evolved beyond its original purpose. It grew into an all-powerful surveillance system, capable of predicting threats on a massive scale. Worldwide. The ultimate spyware.

The Machine’s capabilities were supposed to be private, for Einar’s use only. However, his documentation of The Machine on a private, encrypted Cybernet server was leaked by an unknown entity. It’s functions and massive potential drew the attention of governments, organizations, and corporations alike, leading to a deadly, yet short-lived war for control over the new technology. The following political turmoil forced Einar into a difficult position in order to protect himself and The Machine. He eventually accepted an offer from Starline, granting them limited access to the technology in exchange for Einar’s protection from Maelstrom and other malicious groups. Consequent to the leaked documentation and threats to his safety, Einar grew a fondness for archiving and documenting information on offline analog technology and even physical paper. He realized that even he was not safe from digital theft and prying.

Starline used The Machine within proper boundaries for a while, opting to use its power to protect the country against crimes and terrorism. However, the boundaries were beginning to fade as Starline asked for more control. Einar’s growing anxiety over the potential exploitation of The Machine grew. He knew that its power was too dangerous to be left in the hands of any single entity, so after months of tense negotiations, Einar managed to reclaim full ownership of The Machine after explaining to Starline of its dangers. Starline was unhappy about this decision, but ultimately complied.

Einar destroyed The Machine’s physical form, uploading its digital engram into the deepest recesses of cyberspace to ensure that it could not be accessed or exploited, even by Einar himself. He could only receive data from it, a necessary compromise to protect The Machine from harm. Einar announced the destruction of The Machine to Starline, which they later spread word of the event. Although, no one knew that it still existed, just in a different form.

Despite the fallout with Starline, Einar realized that The Machine’s potential for saving lives was beyond valuable. The technology, initially developed for self-preservation, became a reminder of Einar’s struggle against the very forces that wanted to exploit him. Yet he recognized that its capabilities could be used for more than just himself, but to stand up for those who might otherwise fall victim to the same kind of harm he had faced. An opportunity presented itself: redemption. So, Einar took it.

Einar initiated a covert operation with an agent he grew a liking to during his short time working with Starline: Eden Park. Eden was a busy man – running his own multi-billion dollar company, working as Starline’s personal uniform tailor, and even doing missions from time-to-time. The two however, knew of each other far before joining Starline.

Back then, they were both in the infancy stages of their corporate careers. Eden and Einar both sat at the same conference table, Eden’s rapidly growing fashion company in negotiations with licensing for one of Maelstrom’s software packages. Einar, observing everyone’s moves, took note of Eden. A quiet and nebulous business man, unusual for their field. The two of them never spoke until months later.

Eden was contracted by Maelstrom to design uniforms for a high-profile event where Einar was to announce the company’s next major project to their shareholders. However, the routine corpo-gathering turned to be something far more dangerous.

Word of Maelstrom’s project, lead by Einar, made its ways around the corporate world. A competitor saw this project as a threat to its market dominance and planned to sabotage the event, eliminating Einar in the process.

Eden noticed this plan by pure observation and chance: three of the guards at the event were in uniform, but not the ones Eden designed for the occasion. Just by looking at them, he already knew what was going down, even minutes before The Machine noticed. He noted their earpieces, comm devices of a black-market model, and certainly not Maelstrom. These were hitmen, hiding in plain site. Eden knew he couldn’t make a scene here, so he decided to take care of the situation himself. As the meeting auditorium swarmed with corpos, Eden trailed the hitmen as they passed through an empty hallway, taking notice of them whispering of “The Operator.” Now he knew their target was Einar. He took the men out one-by-one, finally using his combat experience for good. He disarmed them and checked: unregistered firearms, non-Maelstrom grade cyberware, wrong uniforms.

Eden reported to Einar what happened. Following minutes of confusion and explanations, Einar thanked Eden for saving him from danger. The hitmen were later taken care of by Maelstrom after Einar reported the incident, opting to not reveal Eden’s involvement, as asked.

The two of them wouldn’t cross paths again until years later when Einar asked Eden to join his operation. Eden was bewildered, unknowing that Einar had ties with Starline all this time. Einar explained the situation to Eden, noting that his skillset would be invaluable in saving innocent civilian lives using The Machine’s data. What Eden didn’t know is that Einar, following the incident years ago, studied Eden, nearing obsession. He was enthralled by this mysterious corporate billionaire who was able to save his life with such precision. He knew Eden had a history that extended far past just corpo work. And he was intrigued to figure it out. Eden agreed to the partnership, not for the hefty paycheck, but more so as a way to do something more important with his time than just running a fashion company and tailoring uniforms. He loved his work, but he found himself unable to bury the guilt of his past actions. He saw this operation as an opportunity to put some real good out into the world, so the two shook hands and officially formed the operation.

The covert operation remained hidden from the public eye. Eden was placed in a critical role, balancing his official duties with secretive work. However, working for Starline and in parallel secrecy from them proved challenging. It didn’t take long for Starline to discover the operation and, previously under the impression that The Machine had been destroyed, demanded access to it again.

In response, Einar threatened to destroy The Machine permanently, wiping the digital engram. He was only bluffing – he could no longer destroy The Machine if he tried. But Starline believed him. Faced with the prospect of losing such a valuable asset, they backed down and offered a compromise. Eden advised Einar to accept the offer after a long discussion of potential ramifications. Eden had become a rare figure of trust to Einar, as he knew he was a well-intentioned person above all else. After all these years of straying away from people to protect himself and his creations, Einar finally saw peace in another person.

The compromise was accepted. Einar’s operation would continue working under Starline’s protection, with Einar in charge with the role of Chief Intelligence Operator and Eden as second in command. The operation was officially coined “Whiteline.” A few other Starline agents joined the effort, but strict protocols were established to ensure that The Machine’s location and full capabilities remained a secret. It would only transmit data to Einar, minimizing the risk of misuse.

With Whiteline established, Einar and Eden worked together to protect innocent lives, using The Machine’s insights to prevent disasters and criminal activities. The covert nature of their operations allowed them to operate outside conventional law enforcement constraints, enabling them to respond swiftly and effectively to any threats.

Einar’s journey from a recluse inventor to a guardian of the vulnerable was marked by his desire to redeem his past mistakes and to use his skills for the greater good – to help the common man. His experiences with Maelstrom and the corporate world had left him deeply scarred, but his work with Whiteline, in partnership with Eden, offered a path to redemption and a chance to make a positive impact on the world.