James, son of Alphaeus S

Jamie Schreiber

Life History

When you were 16 G-d dropped a purpose on your doorstep. Until then, you had just been another middle-class Jewish kid. You went to parties, did your homework and argued with your parents about money. Your biggest challenge was deciding what colleges to apply to.

You never really saw the world outside your bubble. You certainly never thought too hard about the negative effects of the car you got for your 16th birthday or the fish you had for dinner.

Then Chris showed up and changed everything. Chris never told you much about where she came from. She just showed up one day and rented a room. At first you resented this intrusion into your predictable life, but then you really started to listen to what she had to say.

Chris was like no one you had ever met before. Chris had passion and ideals. Chris had goals that went beyond herself. After a few months of talking, Chris had you completely hooked. She became a mentor to you, almost like the older sister you never had.

When she started MAGE, you were the first to sign up. You wanted to help Chris and her cause in any way you could. You put up posters and went to rallies. You recruited from your high school. When you graduated, you went to a local liberal arts college to stay close to Chris, and helped to recruit there. You majored in biology, taking classes both for ecology and pre-med. You started a college chapter of MAGE at your school and tried to spread it to other campuses.

The most exciting moment of your life was the first time Chris took you before the Senate. She had wrangled an appointment and then she got scared. She brought you along for moral support, and you wound up talking more than she did. You got laughed out of the hall, but you knew that people had heard you!

At college, you met Maria, the love of your life. You had never really dated in high school, but didn't think it was particularly strange. You were far too wrapped up in Chris's plans to care. When you got to college, you finally understood why. When Maria spoke to you, your heart skipped a beat. No girl had ever looked at you like that, and you had certainly never seen a girl as beautiful as Maria.

You were terrified of coming out to your parents, but Chris helped you work up the courage. They weren't happy, but after a few months, they finally accepted it. They really didn't like that Maria wasn't Jewish. Soon, you started talking to them and her about conversion, and they could see that you were happy.

There was only one problem. Maria was from Argentina. She was in college as an international student, but had no way to stay. If you were a heterosexual couple you could have gotten married and kept her in the country. As it was, you couldn't help. As jobs have gotten harder to find in recent years, immigration has become more and more difficult. Maria couldn't get a visa to stay.

When she went back to her parents, they found out about you and were furious. She was forbidden from calling you and you were forbidden from visiting. At first you exchanged furtive emails, but, soon, even that slipped away.

Since losing Maria, you have thrown yourself more and more into MAGE. Maria was involved in MAGE, and had seen some of the environmental damage first hand in Argentina. Even if you can't see her, you want to make sure that her country and her world is a better place to live.

You started pharmacy school at a local university. You know that Chris has access to a few cures for new diseases and you hope to work with her to distribute them widely.

While the organization has done some great things, over the past few years you have gotten more and more worried about where it's going and what that will mean for Chris. You have become close friends with Barry, Chris's husband. Both of you are afraid that the path Chris has chosen will get her arrested or assassinated sooner rather than later. Her last speech at the Senate rattled too many people.

Even worse, there are some members of MAGE who have taken matters into their own hands. You don't think Chris knows, because Chris would never condone these actions. You heard recently of a plot among the extremist faction of MAGE to bomb a power plant. It's a coal plant, and a terrible polluter, but bombing it isn't worth it. They could kill dozens of people that way! You don't want to go to the police because it would forever taint MAGE in the public eye. You need to find some way to stop these terrorist actions before Chris and other innocent people get hurt.

People You Know

Chris Carpenter - Chris has been your purpose since she came into your house when you were 16. You care deeply about the cause, but you also care just as much about keeping Chris safe, and she's putting herself in danger.

Barry Magdalene - Barry came into Chris's life a few years ago, and has made Chris very happy. Since their marriage, you and Barry have become friends. He wants to protect Chris even more than you do. He cares about the cause, but Chris is why he's here.

Peter Skala - Peter has brought some valuable information to Chris. You helped Chris organize the first info drop from Peter. This information made a big splash in the news and hurt Three Diamonds Foods, one of the nastier fishing companies. Every little bit helps.

Andrea Skala - Andrea brought Peter in, but she's much more cautious than her brother. You have a lot of sympathy with her concerns, but you're worried that she may be too afraid to do some of the things that really make a difference.

James Papadopoulos - Time and again, you have asked Chris to do something about the extremists. James and his little band do things that you don't want to know about. You have heard rumors that James is organizing the bombing of a power plant. This sort of terrorism is going to get Chris arrested.

John Papadopoulos - Poor John. You know first hand that being queer in this society isn't easy. He isn't terribly stable, but he is a good person and writes very moving prose for MAGE.

Phillip Harrison - Judaism is important to you, but Phillip's religion is his life, and that makes him scary. He loves god the way addicts love cocaine. You've seen the same look in his eye as in the eyes of some of the street people to whom he ministers.

Colonel Frank Bartholemew - Speaking of street people, you have no idea why Chris has Frank in her inner circle. Frank is devoted to the cause, but he isn't coherent enough to be very helpful.

Tamasa Valappil - Tamasa is great. She's skeptical of everything, but sometimes it's valuable to have a skeptic around. Her designs can make an advertisement really pop.

Eve Matthews - You never cared much for baseball, but Eve is great. She's really pulled herself through since getting crippled, and now she's putting all that umph into working for MAGE. She has brought in some really valuable information about Chevron.

Simon Cylima - You understand the value of having good hackers in the group, but Simon is a little disconcerting. He does good work, but you think he's probably doing things that you don't want to know about.

Judy Isaacson - Judy is one of Chris's best devotees. You know that Judy pursued Chris romantically for a while, but she seems to have gotten over that, and now she puts everything she has towards the cause.

Jude Fairchild - Jude really just creeps you out. There is something seriously wrong with that man.