Billy and Nathan a friendship forged in blood A history by Christian Conkle conkle@mecha.com

Billy Ravenclaw was created and played by Woobee Low.
Nathan Tundra was created and played by Jeffrey Dodd.

Daniel "Billy" Ravenclaw and Nathan "Dr.Jest" Tundra.

Billy Ravenclaw was born Daniel Ravenclaw on a Navaho reservation in Arizona in 1988. His parents were members of a mobile gang (later called a nomad pack). He had an older sister and a younger brother. Little is known of Daniel's mother but his father left the group and took his family to Seattle to find work. It was in Seattle that young Daniel met and became friends with the young Nathan Tundra.

They were of similar age and would often play games of "Stick-Ball" in the street. More often than not, these games degenerated into Daniel hitting Nathan over the head with a broomstick while he cowered. Thus their friendship was formed.

Nathan Tundra, circa 2013.

When they turned 18, they both enrolled in the army to serve their country. The U.S. was fighting the Colombian Drug Lords in the Second Central American War. Daniel and Nathan's unit was airlifted into the jungle via AV-6 and left to continue their LRRP. Unfortunately, after a firefight in the jungle which killed their radio-man and CO, what was left of the unit was stranded with only a twenty-year-old map of East Berlin to guide them. They wandered the jungle for weeks with no food or protection. Several members of their squadron were killed either by the jungle, starvation, or Daniel. Eventually, near starved, the unit came across a young Colombian girl doing laundry in a stream. She led them out of the jungle, but, starving and badly in need of rations, they killed her and ate her to survive. Upon reaching civilization a few days later, they called their carrier for a pickup on a pay telephone. Their mission was considered a horrible failure in logistics and planning, and even their survival skills were brought into question.

It was during their leave in Panama a few weeks later that they encountered more trouble, this time in the form of the Panamanian military. After a heated misunderstanding, the details of which are as yet unknown, the pair found themselves fleeing the scene of an exploding canal lock. The explosion itself nearly cost both their lives. Daniel lost his right arm and was issued a cybernetic replacement. It was also during his recovery that Billy became addicted to artificial Endorphins.

Nathan decided to leave the military after his tour was up and enrolled in college, where he received a degree in business. Daniel re-enlisted for another tour. 4 years later, Nathan returned to the military for another tour.
Billy Ravenclaw, circa 2013.

After the military, both friends had trouble finding jobs. They eventually used their contacts from the army become freelance operatives. Nathan began his career as a smuggler and street dealer. It was Nathan who supplied Daniel with his supply of drugs. Daniel became a bodyguard and solo. He had his military cyberarm replaced with a sleek chrome unit and had it illegally modified to contain razors in the fingers.

By this time, Daniel's sister had moved to Australia live in a corporate arcology community. His brother had gone to college and was now working for Militech.

Daniel's last bodyguard job was for A.T. Johnston, a mid-level corporate working for E.B.M. Unfortunately for both, A.T. was the unwitting subject for a corporate hit. A well-financed team of solos named Punch and Judy were hired to kill A.T. for unknown reasons. They were equipped with an armed AV-4 to complete the job. Punch and his partner Judy cornered Daniel and A.T. in a alley but were beaten by Daniel and his martial arts. They retreated and had the AV-4 strafe the alley with it's mini-gun, very messy but unavoidable. Luckily, Daniel and A.T. were able to dive into a dumpster for cover. Unfortunately, Daniel lost both his legs in the encounter and took several weeks to recover from his near-fatal injuries.

Afterwards, A.T. quit E.B.M. and began his checkered career hopping from company to company. Daniel went into hiding, his addiction to 'Dorph made him paranoid. He changed his name to Billy and began his career anew.

Billy and Wes Vaclin before her untimely demise.

Billy's first job after the E.B.M. incident was to find and eliminate a rogue cyborg, Death 1.0, for Militech before it was captured by either the authorities or a rival company. Death 1.0 contained many experimental and illegal cybernetic innovations that Militech wished to keep secret. He was hired by his brother whom he hadn't seen in several years. Billy was assigned a partner named Wes Vaclin, an inexperienced solo whom Militech wished to groom for further operations.

Billy followed the trail to San Francisco and quickly managed to lose Wes in a bar downtown. Soon afterwards, the bar exploded, ostensibly from a terrorist attack.

Unbeknownst to him, however, was that Heather, an assassin from Arasaka, was hired to keep an eye on him and keep him from getting too close to Death 1.0 before their own team could recover it. She even managed to get close enough to Billy to pretend to help him find the renegade cyborg. Though Billy never knew of her duplicity, she still turned up dead a few days later with severe lacerations to the face and body. Billy just didn't trust her.

While investigating Death 1.0 at the City Hall, a cyberpsycho barricaded himself in the building and took hostages. Billy took things into his own hands and wound up fighting the punk out the door and into the street. Within minutes, SFPD ESWAT was on the scene. Alpha, a Cyberpsycho Cop, jumped from the hovering AV-4, smashing the sidewalk as he landed. He broke up the fight by grabbing each combatant, throwing the psycho punk across 5 meters across the sidewalk and into a parked car, and lifting Billy into the air declaring, "You are under ARREST! You do NOT have any rights! Anything you say can and WILL be used against you by ME! UnderSTOOD?!" Billy, for the first time, shut up.

Billy then tracked Death 1.0 to the Oakland Arcology. The Arcology had been bombed in a similar manner to the bar so, following a hunch, Billy checked it out. After the fire department left the scene, Billy managed to insert himself into the secure complex via the hole made in the explosion. He discovered that Death 1.0 was trying to find it's biological mother, whom it had tracked here. Finding the mother dead, Billy tracked the cyborg to the upper biodome. There, amidst the foliage and jungle flora of the dome, Billy fought the unstoppable killing machine. Billy was injured badly, however, before he was close enough to be able to use the one weapon calculated to take down the beast: a Taser (Tasers, according to first edition rules, required a difficult BT feat. With a BT of 10 and a roll of 10, no one could beat the difficulty 20 set by the rules. We thought it was so funny, hell, we went with it. Tasers were, in 2013, the perfect non-lethal weapon!). Once down, Billy readied his catch for transport. Unfortunately, ESWAT arrived again. Alpha arrested Billy and killed Death 1.0 by ripping it's head off.

Charges were later dropped and the head was returned to Militech. Arasaka, however, scavenged much of the body.

Billy returned to Seattle to find he was not to be paid for his trouble. He found his brother, and after an argument, they never spoke to each other again.

Billy Ravenclaw after his encounter with Death 1.0 in the Oakland Arcology.

Soon after his failed mission to San Francisco, Billy was put on the Militech list of "communists." He was constantly harassed by other solos and bounty hunters. He moved in with Nathan, who was living as a squatter in an abandoned condominium complex in North Seattle.

Nathan was worried about Billy. His humanity was slowly slipping away with each new cybernetic enhancement and each new kill. Nathan would often test Billy with their cat Fluffy. As long as Billy was able to appreciate Fluffy and pet it, he was alright.

Billy would often talk of moving to Australia to live with his sister. They were directionless, out of work, and hungry. One day, Militech sent a team of snipers to take out Billy. Upon dealing with them, Billy and Nathan took the bodies to the body bank downtown. Halfway there, they were jumped by a gang of juveniles. Billy took an M-60 belonging to one of the snipers, and took care of the entire gang in seconds. At the Body Bank, Nathan caught word that Billy's ex-girlfriend, Kathy, who had been hired by Arasaka to develop chemical agents, had disappeared. She was last heard from in London, where she worked. With no passports or identification, Nathan managed to hitch a ride for the two of them over the pole with a team of Network 54 solos.

Once in England, they were surprised to find that they were expected. A limo took them to a rustic country retreat. That night, they were attacked by ninjas from the Inu Clan, but were saved by the intervention of another clan of female ninjas, the Neko Clan. The Nekos set up the hotel in preparation for their arrival. Ookii Neko, the leader of the clan, informed Billy that she was aware of his ex-girlfriend, and that she was taken prisoner by Arasaka for her knowledge of secret lethal agents the company was developing. She was placed in cryogenic braindance in the lower levels of the Arasaka building in London. The Inu ninjas learned of Billy's arrival so were dispatched to deal with him. They are run by a man named Toshihiro Kudo, who runs the British branch of Arasaka and has ties to both the ninja and the Yakuza.

The Neko clan are the mortal enemies of the Inu and have hunted them across the globe. She was unsure of their presence in Britain, but Billy and Nathan's arrival drew them out, so she was now sure. Nathan struck a deal with Ookii allowing them to accompany the ninja on their raid of the Arasaka building. The Neko could take care of any of the ninjas inside as long as Billy and Nathan were able to rescue Kathy, Ookii agreed.

Once inside, Billy and Nathan went down to the cellar via the elevator shafts while the ninjas led a diversion up to the roof, meeting their rivals there. In the basements they encountered a robohound (well before the Interface Robohounds, I can tell you...). They were also shocked to discover that someone else had infiltrated the base at the same time. IRS agent George Pappas had gotten lost. He was trying to find secret files that linked Arasaka America to dirty deals with the U.S. Marines. After helping Billy and Nathan find and revive Kathy, they helped him find the files he needed.

They managed to escape with the surviving Neko ninjas, who had fought poorly against the heavily armed Inu and had to retreat, but their escape route involved leaving Earth. The Neko took Billy, Nathan, Kathy, and George to orbit, dropping them off at the Johnson Space Platform.

George went back to the U.S., the Neko split up to return to Japan, Billy, Nathan, and Kathy were stranded. That's when Nathan received a phone call.

While floating past a bank of telephones, each phone began to ring in succession. Nathan nervously answered the last one, "Uh, Wintermute?" Nathan asked jokingly. The ethereal voice on the other end replied,"No, Mr. Tundra, this is Tsukiyomi."

Tuskiyomi explained that he was trapped in indentured service to the Biotechnica corporation in their moonbase. He was willing to hire Billy and Nathan (in 2013, Solos and Streetdealers were relatively uncommon in space) to come and rescue him. Some money was paid in advance so that the pair could procure some Flechette pistols and other equipment. It was also arranged that they would take the transport "Diana Ross" piloted by the independent Nancy Irving. Simple extraction, or so it appeared.

They managed to get to the moonbase and, under the pretense of an oxygen leak, the "Diana Ross" was permitted to make an emergency landing. Billy and Nathan made the run only to discover that security was run by a big Russian named Nikolai Rasputin (no relation), an Arasaka agent contracted to Biotechnica. In the base, they found many bizarre biological experiments including a creature named Canis, whom Billy and Nathan recognized as a member of their platoon back in Colombia! His body had been purchased from the military by Biotechnica for experimentation, now he was their mindless slave. Seeing this, they had little idea who, or what, Tsukiyomi might be.

Eventually, they were able to locate Tsukiyomi, right where he said he'd be. To their su prise, Tsukiyomi was neither a beast or human, but an artificial intelligence (unheard of in 2013-4). They were instructed to disconnect his AI card from the mainframe and transport him to Microtech in Pasadena. There his rights would be guaranteed and they would be greatly rewarded. They agreed.

They retreated to the hangar where Nathan and Nancy got back on the ship with Tsukiyomi. They were now unarmed and faced capture at the hands of the Arasaka guards who were close behind. The doors were closed and Billy agreed to stay behind to open them so that the others could make their escape. Just as everyone boarded the OTV, the guards made it through the outer door they had sealed. Billy, using a hastily modified chemical laser usually used on Deltas, took out many of the security guards through a wall as they approached down the hall. He then managed to get to the control room and open the hangar doors. The Diana Ross escaped, but Billy was captured.

Billy was taken before Nikolai and was recognized as one of the intruders of the British headquarters a few weeks previous. He was beaten, taken to an airlock, then spaced.

A few days later, Billy woke in the OTV with a bad case of the bends and a terrible headache. Nancy had knew he would be spaced, so loitered outside the base until he was spotted. She quickly retrieved him with the cargo arm and sedated him until he was better.

Returning to Johnson, the OTV was approached by an armed Biotechnica OTV. They were about to give up when suddenly, the Biotechnica OTV broke off engagement. It received a lock-on warning from an American Delta piloted by Lt. Cal Willandar, an old friend of Nathan's from the war who had been shadowing the OTV at his request. His debt repaid, Cal took off and the "Diana Ross" continued to Johnson.

Nancy had Billy, Nathan, and Tuskiyomi stored in a cargo module for smuggling back to Earth. Kathy was to stay on Crystal Palace until it was safe for her to return. Back at Mojave field, Billy and Nathan looked comical as they strode up to the nicest hotel at the Spaceport in their dirty, torn, and bloody fatigues and asked for a room. Security was nearly called, but their debit cards turned out alright, so they were allowed to stay.

The next day, Billy and Nathan took a bus to Night City where they would hook up with friends of Billy's to go to Pasadena. On the way, the bus was boarded by Arasaka retrieval agents led by a man named Purge.

The Arasaka AV-4 forced the bus to a stop. Purge and four Black-coats boarded the bus. They strafed the bus, killing anyone not diving for cover, including the bus driver and most of the passengers. Nathan took out the four goons with an automatic rifle, Billy jumped up from behind the seat and, with one shot, took Purge's head clean off with a large caliber handgun. Billy then ripped a hole in the roof and jumped to the top of the hovering AV-4. He tore the hatch on the roof turret off and jumped inside. After killing the pilot, he ordered the co-pilot to land.

Nathan tried to interrogate the co-pilot who, faithful to her Arasaka training, remained silent. Billy then cut out her eyes and left her to die in the desert. They took the AV-4 the rest of the way into Night City where they met up with Billy's old Nomad Pack. They took the AV-4 and stripped it down, hiding the parts in a rental garage. They then accompanied Billy and Nathan to Pasadena.

Once hooked up to the Microtech Mainframes, the AI cartridge (the size of a large briefcase) downloaded the personality and memories of Tsukiyomi. With this technology, Microtech would build the first publicly-announced AI and corner the market. Zetatech, who designed Tsukiyomi in secret for Biotechnica, would get none of the credit.

As a reward, Tsukiyomi granted one favor to each person responsible for his freedom. To Nancy, in orbit, he had purchased a new OTV, the "Diana Ross II." To Nathan, he provided a list of major contacts and secrets in the government, corporations, and mafia, with which to set up his new operation in Seattle. To Billy, he granted 1 Billion Dollars non-traceable Eurodollars. Everyone went their separate ways...

Six years pass...(and a new edition of the game is released)

Nathan, using his list of secrets and contacts, builds a criminal empire in Seattle based on smuggling and deal-making. He grows a little fatter and a little balder and loses touch with Billy. Billy squanders his money. He buys a huge fortified house in the Cascades and stocks it full of weapons and vehicles. He finances a television show based on his adventures. He travels the world and beyond and lives the good life. He gets a little soft and eventually, after a few ill-advised investments and a rather expensive cure for 'Dorph addiction, he loses most of his money.

Eventually Billy needed some money, so he looks for work. He hooks up with an ex-cop from LA named Trekker and his robohound. Trekker puts him on-line with a gig with, who else? Militech. They are hired to track down and capture, who else? Death 2.0. They begin the search at the research lab he was brought to and discover his programming will make him find the nearest and largest cache of weapons his sensors could detect. Unfortunately, it was Billy's house in the nearby hills. They hired an AV-9 taxi but on approach to Billy's house, it was hit by anti-aircraft fire and went down. Billy's house was later destroyed by an air strike called in by Militech. Trekker went to the hospital, Billy went to the morgue.

In death (yeah, DEATH! Shut UP!) Billy went before the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit called down upon Billy who showed little attempt at being impressed. The Great Spirit said,"Daniel Ravenclaw, Your death was in vain, but you may have one more chance to return to the living if you do ONE thing!"

"What is that, Oh Great Spirit?" Billy replied.

"You must return to the land of the living if, and only if..."

"What is it, Oh Spirit?"

"..you bring me two cheeseburgers, a barrel of fries, and a large Coke from Burgerville!"

Two days later, when Trekker was to pick up the remains he had discovered were sold to the body bank downtown, he found the entire establishment littered with the lacerated bodies of anyone who happened to be in the building and Billy, naked and crouched in a fetal position, curled up and rocking in the corner, covered in blood.

(Okay, here's what happened... I was working a 12 hour shift and had no money for food. I called Woobee. He bought me the food, but upon arrival, wouldn't produce goods unless I made a deal with him, resurrect Billy or starve. What could I do?)

After the Death 2.0 fiasco, Billy received a call from Kathy, now living in New York and working for Dow Pharmaceuticals. He and Trekker and a few friends go to New York. In the subway, Billy manages to kill a gang member whose music annoyed him. His humanity slipped further and further away. Then he met his son, Daniel.

Kathy introduced Billy to his 7-year-old son whom he had never known about. She then informs Billy that her life is in danger, once more at the hands of Arasaka.

Billy walked away and took his son with him, leaving Kathy to fend for herself (she later dies, but that's a different campaign). Billy takes Daniel to the Navajo reservation he grew up on. There, Billy gets back to his roots and teaches his son the traditions of his people. In 2024, The ConAg corporation takes over a strip-mining operation near the reservation. Coincidentally, A.T. Johnson is assigned there. ConAg is dumping their waste arsenic onto the reservation and the Nomad pack's children become aware of this. Billy, now leader of the pack, decides to do nothing, his apathy a result of his diminutive humanity. The children of the nomad pack, however, led by young Daniel, lead an assault on the compound at night. They plan on sabotaging the equipment before the workers return the next day. Waiting for them was Tommy Ravenclaw, Billy's cousin and a rogue member of the pack and his punk friends who have cobbled together a punknaught out of the old AV-4 parts. They have been hired by ConAg for protection and they effectively massacre the children. Billy and the other adults come to their aid a little too late and most of the children are dead. Billy, in his RV, and with the help of the rest of the pack, takes out the punknaught. Tommy, however survived and lay crippled on the field. Billy gets out of his RV with an old M-60. He walked up to Tommy, who was spitting blood and crying, and emptied an entire belt of ammunition in him at point blank range. Billy silently walked back to his RV, grabbed his son, and went home.

A few days later, he received a cellular phone call...

"Billy, this is Tsukiyomi, Nathan needs your help..."

Nathan had taken on a position in the French Mafia, the Union Corse. The Union Corse wanted to make a foothold in Seattle and take a large chunk of it's smuggling trade. Nathan gave them this in exchange for being made a Lieutenant in the mafia and put in charge of the operation. This deal went smoothly for several years. Unfortunately, one of his subordinates, Jean Paul St.Croix, set Nathan up for a fall. Now Nathan was held captive in the basement of his own building while Jean Paul took over the operation.

Billy, with the help of Tuskiyomi, infiltrated the building and freed his friend. Afterwards they immigrated to Crystal Palace, where they have remained.

Now it's 2026. Billy and Nathan live across the street from each other in their own respective penthouses. Nathan runs his smuggling and information operation in orbit, offering some of the best services available there. Billy owns his own groundside solo-training facility in Europe. It is rumored that the Angels approached Billy for membership and he declined. They spend much of their time relaxing and having water-balloon fights with giant slingshots from their rooftops. The also, from time to time, hire operatives to infiltrate each of their respective penthouses to retrieve some object or piece of information. The last of which was in 2025 when a group of naive groundsiders were hired to steal two pieces of a broken broomhandle that Billy kept in secure glass in his apartment.

Billy Ravenclaw is a tall Navajo American Indian with a high forehead. His face is in a perpetual scowl. His eyes invariably shielded by mirror shades. His right arm is cybernetic and is armored. His fingers contain illegal rippers. Both of his legs are cybernetic and are armored. They conceal storage compartments where he hides his weapon of choice, a Charter Arms .44 Bulldog, modified with smartgun link and Targeting Scope. Both of his eyes are bionic replacements with Image Enhancement, Lowlite, and Thermal Imaging. His Intelligence is 8, Awareness is 10, and Combat Sense is 10, giving him an unmodified Awareness check in combat of 28. This over-sensitivity has led to a high state of paranoia. He believes, privately of course, that he has the ability to see molecules, and has, on occasion, seen a SPECIFIC molecule that apparently follows him around. Billy's slipping humanity has left him on edge. He has little regard for human life, even for his loved ones. The exception to this being, of course, Nathan and his son Daniel. when he was younger his preferred dress was in a ratty Danzig T-shirt from the 1980's, showing his taste in the oldies.

His favorite line to Nathan is, "Kinda reminds you of Panama, eh Nathan?"

Nathan was once of slim build and receding hairline. Now he is quite paunchy and bald. He is a self-described Qwyijibo (a fat hairless ape, ala Homer Simpson). Although he is a fixer with a Streetdeal of 10 and the skills to back it up, he is also a competent combat medic, a skill gained as a medic in the army, and is an excellent marksman. When he was younger, he was often mistaken for a med-tech or a solo. Now he is often mistaken for a coporate or media.