Aswegen and Modise

Talinz frames for the discerning customer

Some companies were founded in the opening days of the Talinz funding, some were founded as war wracked the world. Some were founded substantially after, when gaps in the market started to appear. Aswegen and Modise were one of those companies. In a recovering market, two enterprising university engineers saw a gap. Both Aswegen and Modise were students at Johannesburg University when they realised something that would make them rather fantastically rich.

Much of their peer group was implausibly wealthy, and young. They didn’t want to associate with the established brands, which either had black marks against their names for their war involvement, or worse still were ‘unhip’. What these rich kids needed was a brand that stood for them. Something new, vibrant, luxurious, and exuberantly expensive. Aswegen was an electrical engineer, and Modise a computer scientist. They had the means, now all they needed was the money.

The first Aswegen and Modise stand was a website hosted on the campus intranet. Modise had managed to convince some of his lecturers to rent out some space on the server, and they advertised themselves as customisers, rather than creators. They knew enough about how the Talinz frames worked from lectures to modify parts, if not make them themselves. The drive to feel unique among young people was large, and the two entrepreneurs took advantage of it. Word of mouth, stands at university events and a small on-campus advertising campaign helped launch the pair’s idea as a business venture, rather than a spare time project. Once they had graduated, a few of their more advantaged customers helped spread the word.

The customisers eventually managed to get a small factory. Their production numbers weren’t the best, but that was part of the point. Each of their frames came ‘hand-made, crafted, designed’ and with a nigh-extortionate price tag. But quiet product placement as domicile servants and accessories to a few key stars, and a few surprisingly placed paparazzi shots of their models with the stars helped catapult profits.

In the modern day, Aswegen and Modise are struggling with trying to retain their ‘street cred’ whilst breaking into the mainstream market. The pair still design models themselves to distribute to key personalities, and they have recently found that producing lower quality frames that look similar to their more expensive designer frames works well as a business model. Far from everyone wanting to be unique, Aswegen and Modise have learnt that everyone really wants to be just like their idols. Their involvement in Talinz fighting is brief and aloof. The media personalities the pair prefer to target appear are filmstars, musicians, and the like, to keep with their ‘alternative’ image. But every now and then an individual will arise using an A and M frame, and the company will bombard them with requests and investment. It can be really quite rewarding to be one of their five or so poster pilots in the world…

Character Profiles

Below I have included the character profiles for Answegen and Modise. All the NPCs have a high concept and another aspect, a set of skills, and one stunt, but feel free to expand them beyond that skeleton if you want, and indeed, tell me how you made those profiles bigger in your games, I’m intrigued.

Jann Aswegen, Co-founder of Aswegen and Modise
High Concept: Haute Couture Electrical Engineer
Aspect: Enterprising risk-taker
Skills: Great (+4) Robotics Engineer, Good (+3) Education, Fair (+2) Commerce, Average (+1) Tae-kwon-do
Stunts: I am the 11^th principle of good design: When Jann talks about the work that he puts in to each and every Talinz model they make, people are drawn in by his knowledge of how to make a design that people will buy. He has an education specialisation(+2) in Fashion and Design.

Emmanuel Modise, Co-founder of Aswegen and Modise
High Concept: Bohemian Computer Expert
Aspect: Social Media Afficionado
Skills: Great (+4) Computer programmer, Good (+3) Empathy, Fair (+2) Popular culture, Average (+1)  Charming
Stunts: Always do the research: Whenever Emmanuel has done research on an individual beforehand (Which will normally consist of pretty effectively trawling through both human and online sources for all information on them around), he gains a +2 bonus to overcome any social obstacles with regards to them.