John "Brain" McCullen is a character in the Cyberpunk universe.
History[]
Early Life[]
John McCullen was born in New York City, and was the son of a fourth-generation line of Brooklyn mechanics. He and his family lived in a crammed apartment right above his father's garage.
Since his early childhood, John was a natural at taking things apart, analyzing the pieces, and putting them back together successfully, although several TVs didn't function anymore afterwards. Through high school, John worked in his father's garage, steadily earning the money he would use to attend the local college. After the Collapse of 1996, life became much more difficult. The garage was robbed for parts by boostergangs dozens of times, with cars being stripped down or directly stolen. At least two times John had to ward off the thieves using his father's 9mm pistol. At some point he earned his nickname of Brain.[1]
2000s - 2010s[]
After his 16th birthday, John's dream of going to collage was shattered. When returning home one night, he found his parents had been killed by a drunk driver. Devastated, he abandoned his home and did the only thing he could think of, enlisting the army. John spent the next two years in a tour in the Second Central American War. He had figured he could see the world, live a life of danger, and earn some money for college. In his time in Central/South America, Brain learned to assemble and repair more complex things, including electronics, cybernetics and heavy vehicles.
After his training was over, John was sent to Firebase Antietam, a very conflicted warzone in the middle of Peru, where he gained the rank of Sergeant. In 2006, Sgt. McCullen was standing under an APC doing maintenance when the locals attacked. Without any time to react, a rocket destroyed the hydraulic lift. The explosion fireball horribly burned him, and caused the APC to fall on him, crushing John's right side of the body in the process. Field medics managed to fit him with a cyberware on the spot. Soon afterwards, John returned to the United States, and spent some time traveling around the country. After hooking up with fixer known as Crickett, Brain became involved in black ops, a variety of gang wars, and high-tech robberies. He also worked for a time in various other places in the US, in Asia, Europe, Antarctica, and even in Low Earth Orbit.
In 2019, Brain, alongside Lynda Korolev and the Falcone siblings (Grey, Ice, and Jade), they went to the Far East, where several Japanese corporations were causing trouble. Unfortunately for them, there were some complications and the operation failed. All of them were shot at, arrested, beaten, beleaguered and tortured. Somehow, they all managed to return to the US alive, where they were paid very well, but after what they had lived, they were seriously considering the scope of their future work. After some weeks of brainstorming, the five of them decided to pool their assets and form their own security group, Affirmative Action. They were thinking of taking the operations that major corporations like Militech or Lazarus wouldn't due to their size, and in time, once they grew, take even bigger ones. Since they were "temporarily" lodged in Manhattan by Cricket, a mutual fixer friend, they chose to establish their headquarters in that city, specifically an abandoned nightclub in East Village. They spent the following months building up their new enterprise, hiring new people and making new contacts.[1]
2020s - 2040s[]
By 2020, Affirmative Action had the potential to score a name for themselves in the world of private, specialized security. Despite all this work and being part of the company, Brain preferred to work with AA only on occasions, wanting to not become a permanent employee.[1]
In 2040, Brain and his husband 3-Piece opened the Short Circuit in Night City's Little Europe.[2]
Personality[]
2020[]
Brain was friendly enough, but he came off as somewhat bland at times. He liked a good party when there was nothing else to do, but people would more likely encounter him fixing something. He could be reached by several ways, though the best way to pique his interest was to offer him some bit of technology he hadn't seen before and let him have a field day. Brain's primary specialties, in addition to repair, were demolitions and security breach. He was always willing to perform a consultation or go in on a job.
In addition to exploring new technologies, Brain's primary interest was living long enough to retire. Unlike other edgerunners who thought it was cool to die young John figured that if he made it this far, he deserved a taste of the good life.[1]
Stats & Equipment[]
Cyberpunk 2020[]
| Stats | Source(s): Edgerunners Inc. (p.30) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INT | 8 | REF | 7 | DEX | — | TECH | 9 | COOL | 7 |
| ATTR | 4 | LUCK | 6 | MA | 7 | BODY | 6 | EMP | 6 |
| Skills | Jury Rig +5, Awareness +6, Streetwise +5, Athletics +4, Basic Tech +8, Demolitions +5, Rotorwing Tech +4, Tracked Vehicle Tech +3, AV Tech +4, CyberTech +6, Rifle +3, Melee +4, Pistol +4, Stealth +2, Electronic Security +5, General Knowledge +2, Weaponsmith +3[1] | ||||||||
| Cyberware | Basic Processor (w/ interface plugs (Machine/Tech link)), Cyberoptics (w/ TA, TH, ME, AD options), Cyberarm (w/ ARM, THK options), Cyberleg (w/ ARM, HOL options), Biomonitor, Photo-RAM chip, Ambidex chip.[1] | ||||||||
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 BORELLI, A. Edgerunners Inc.. Berkeley, CA, R. Talsorian Games, 1995. (pp.30,60)
- ↑ HUTT, J. et al., Black Chrome. Kenmore, WA, R. Talsorian Games, 2023. (p.132)