Asta “Hel” Eriksen
BRASH | PLAYFUL | VIOLENT
“Tyr! Do you see me now?!”
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// basic info
SiN: NULL
Name: Asta Eriksen
Alias: Hel
Age: 20
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 140lbs
Pronouns: She/They
Gender: Intersex
Hair: Synthetic
Eyes: Blue
Origins: Nomad
Occupation: Solo / For-Hire
Affiliations: None
Health: Excellent
Wealth: Abject Poverty
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// personality
Asta has a brash, forceful and almost brutal personality. She would call herself a true warrior - most people would call her a thug with a vague sense of honor. She is aggressive and energetic in almost everything she does, not to exclude working and partying like they were the last day on Earth. Extroverted and passionate, she is comfortable in a crowd despite her Nomad upbringing and has almost no real sense of personal space or physical shame. If left to her own devices, she’ll find a group to take part in games, gambling or brawling for fun. The few times that she seeks solitude, she does so on the open road; much like a true Nomad.
Unlike most people in Night City, Astra does not seem crushed by the Corporate Machine nor blinded by the neon lights and grit. She lives life without concern for the larger world around her - a thing that cuts both ways. She has no sense of budgeting nor planning beyond a single tomorrow but also very little worry about things beyond the very next sunrise. Maybe that’s because she hasn’t been in Night City long enough to learn the truth of it. Maybe she never will, too focused on the most turbulent of human attributes: Faith. Though how much she actually believes in the romanticized tales spun by the Eriksens are real or simply parables for life is left to question.
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// proficiencies
Energetic and athletic, Asta is a skilled combatant with minimal military training. Though she lacks the refined and practiced methods of trained corporate hitmen she often makes up for this with sheer grit and Nomad innovation. Combat is often a matter of morale as much as ability and Asta capitalizes upon this; assured of her victories even when she can’t possibly win.
Her minimal cyberware suite includes Militech Smartlink technology, allowing her to interface with Grendel’s weapons and her twin SMGs. This grants her a frightful sum of accuracy when using maneuvers that would otherwise be a hopeless spraying of bullets vaguely in the enemy’s direction.
Given her upbringing in a Nomad clan, she is also competent as a mechanic but her real skill lies in riding rather than driving. Asta excels with light vehicles like motorcycles, ATVs and small off-roaders. Her ability to drive normal cars or heavy trucks is adept but nothing skilled. While she couldn’t successfully build a car from scratch, she can certainly jury rig one enough to get it to a real mechanic.
She’s also a decent athlete, able to climb, run, sprint - and dance - with sometimes impressive talent. Partly due to her history, partly due to genetics and partly due to the cyberware that she utilizes.
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// cyberware
- Synth Hair & Tattoos
- Cosmetic implants that glow in the dark and can change color with chemical treatment, these have no real effect beyond being cool and visually appealing. They have Dylanar serial numbers but they aren’t valid…meaning they are probably fake.
- DynaMAX SP+ Pulmonary Lattice
- Third Generation lung enhancements, these interwoven nanotubes enhance oxygen intake and filter toxins. Originally these were considered far cheaper than full respiratory replacement; but that was decades ago.
- DynaMAX SP+ Renal Suite
- Third generation Sport-Performance kidneys, DynaMAX is popular with athletes (and drug abusers) for their ability to control adrenaline and overclock the human body naturally. (May cause long term side effects, consult a doctor)
- Militech “Savage” SmartLinks
- A dual-palm Smartlink that is meant for dual-wielding weapons or using ambidextrous equipment, “Savage” is not actually a line of products made by Militech…this is probably a knock-off.
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// equipment
- Huginn & Muninn - Older model Militech weapons upgraded with Smartlinks and a custom black-gloss finish, these two submachine guns bear deep blue engravings of the ravens which advised Odin in Viking myth.
- Gauntlets - Statistically the same as Big Knuckles or similar combat cyberware, these gauntlets are removable pieces of armor. One holds an LCD screen and basic bio-monitor along with a slot for an agent, the opposite has an empty slot that can hold a single item of relatively the same size.
- Grendel - Originally a Militech Kobra Recon, this motorcycle has been heavily modified over the years it has spent with Nomads. Most of its electronics have been swapped for older hardware and over half of its armor has been stripped. The missile launcher it was originally built with has been replaced by a Smartlink 5.56mm rotary machine gun. Though this is inferior at combating armor, it will absolutely shred human targets, firing at nearly 1500 RPM.
- Tsunami Corp-ID - The name ‘Asta Eriksen’ does not appear in the Social Identity Network nor any derivative there-of. This officially makes her an NPE, she does not exist. However, Astra carries a SIN cassette issued by Tsunami Arms, which will scan as valid. Exactly how this works is something of a corporate conspiracy that even she might not understand.
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// origins
The Eriksens' (loosely translated: Children of Erik the Great) are a clan of Nomads that roam what remains of the North-Eastern regions of North America, having crossed back and forth from Greenland several times in the past 40 years since their founding. Their origins vary somewhat but they all embrace very Norse/Swedish ideals that are romanticized histories of the 9th century, AKA 'The Vikings'. They tell tales of Odin the All-Father, Thor the Mighty and Loki the Deceiver to their children; though if these are meant to be taken as a literal form of religion or simply as parables and moral advice for life in a crumbling world is something for historians to debate. As a part of her adulthood, Asta must undergo a journey on her own; spending some years away from the family to prove that she can survive. A tradition that is a mix of coming-of-age ritual and a method that the Nomads use to gain worldly experience and connections for their family. Those who return do so wiser and with great value to the Eriksens.
Exactly why Asta has come to the literal opposite side of the continent is something of a contentious story. Her mother died of illness within weeks of her birth and her father was not a Nomad - he was a Corporate agent that happened to share an agenda with the Eriksons at the time. Despite this, the elders of the clan saw her as their own and she was raised as the surrogate daughter of Bragi, a bearded old biker who was probably the wisest among them. However, that decision didn’t sit well with everyone; especially not when Asta’s biological father occasionally showed up to check on her. Loki, they called him, the deceiver and betrayer much like the figures of their myths and she was thus his daughter: Hel.
Asta took the name to heart, which upset a few more people, causing some sharp opinions in the clan of if someone like her should actually be allowed. Especially when she used money that her father sent her to buy DynaMAX cyberware. After several squabbles and a couple of brawls, however, she made the decision to force family honor: A full year early, Asta would go out in the world on her own. If she returned, the Eriksons would have to accept her. If she didn’t? Then they wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore.
If her father knew - or cared - about her trial was something that Asta never stopped to think about. She had always assumed he wanted her to be like her mother and to remain with the family; after all he had plenty of chance to take her away and never seemed to want to. She would go as far as she could west. West until the roads ran out. And there, wherever that was, she was find her Destiny…at least that’s what she’s told herself. That road leads here: To Night City.