Eric Salley

Name: Eric Salley
Closest Archetype: Athlete

The Skinny:
Eric’s story begins late in his childhood. His parents Sheila and Turner were Shier-Claussen executives who did most of their business on the Ivory Coast. Eric was raised for the most part by a nanny named Jillisa. While he loved both his parents and nanny a great deal, his one true love had always been sports. In high school Eric lettered in Baseball, Basketball, Football, Volleyball and Tennis. His athletic ability was so respected that he was even tested for latent magical ability. Those tests came back negative and opened the door for Eric to pursue a career in professional athletics. Having been raised on the east coast, Eric wanted to explore his fractured company. He signed a letter of intent with Stanford University with a built-in promise that he would play all four years. That promise was soon to be broken.

It was a common suspicion that Eric’s sports obsession was linked to the fact that the only time he could ever see his parents was when they came to his games. So he played everything and he did it so well that his parents had no choice but to be proud of him. However, Eric’s sports obsession didn’t end with the games he played. He was obsessed with competition itself. He would bet on the smallest things. Which icicle would grow longer, what plant would die first; and sports. He betted religiously on sports. Two years into his betting, Eric’s obsession was uncovered by a bookie named Leroy Watts. Watts had been on the losing end of Eric’s bets for several weeks then. Watts was angry and could not cover the tab. So he turned to the NCAA and exposed Eric for gambling. His parents tried to cover up the whole affair but Watts had also sold the story to news reporters. It was too late. Eric Salley was tarnished as a college player. The gambling obsession turned dark. Once the NCAA declared him ineligible to compete he stopped betting on games and started betting on riskier stuff. “I bet I can steal that car.”, “I bet if I really tried I could take out those guards over there.” For the next six months Eric led a life of high risks and violence. He was charged with assault nine times, and his rankings for the upcoming draft plummeted. To make matters worse, Eric’s parents were extracted by a rival corporation that same year. Contact between Eric and his parents was cut off completely. The draft arrived and Eric was picked late in the third round. He signed a contract with the Seattle Supersonics for the league minimum. It was to be the beginning of his worst trial yet.

Eric’s first year of basketball was horrendous. He received very limited playing time. The time he did manage to get on the floor was marred by miscues and blown opportunities. He skipped several practices over the course of that first year and by all accounts was considered to be a bust. Eric’s coach was perhaps the only person who still had faith in him, and still wanted to give him a chance. That chance was costing Coach Goening his job. It was the 1st round of the playoffs when things finally got back on track.

Coach Goening invested his own salary into hiring a group of runners to track down the location of Eric’s parents. He felt that Eric needed closure. He needed to know that his parents were watching in order to perform at the level he was capable of. That Shadowrun team was able to track down the Salleys. They had been taken by Cyberdrax Systems and were working as research execs in South America. Cyberdrax had banned familial contact under the suspicion that Shier-Claussen would be watching their son and would try to snatch them back if they made contact. But it had been nearly two years. The runners were able to arrange a face to face between Cyberdrax and Coach Goening. In that meeting Cyberdrax agreed to permit the family to communicate with their son. That was all it took to turn his game around. In the 1st game of the playoffs, Eric exploded for 48 points against Golden State. He averaged just under 30pts for the series and received MVP honors for that series.

The game had gotten better. The gambling had gotten worse. Finally the gambling became totally out of control. Eric lost 500,000 to the Mafia in a high stakes card game. He couldn’t pay up front. Because of that, the Mob demanded that he throw the next series. He promised to get them the money as soon as he talked to his coach and friends but it was too late. Throw the games against Portland, or die. Eric went to his coach and the coach came to his rescue again. He rehired the same group of runners and assigned them as personal bodyguards throughout the playoffs.

Today Eric is married to one of those bodyguards. While he is thought to be one of the best players in the league, his past of gambling and high risks always haunts him. He still likes to live on the edge and he still keeps old contacts.

Known contacts:

Shaman
Shadowrunner (Elisa Salley)
Bookie
Matrix Bookie
Decker
Sports Official
Movie star
Race car driver
Mechanic
Professional Stunt man