Also, while I know it is early, I am going to write up my two more finalized Hackers before I forget them. And as a way to fluff up the faction a bit more now that I have something to work with.
Online Alias: Torrent Jones - IRL name: Wakefield Heinrik
The cyberpirate among all cyberpirates. Whether its music, porn, movies, games, books, or low quality rips of some random guy's drunken karaoke session, he's got it. And if he somehow doesn't have one of the original rips of it in his own private treasure chests, he's probably got at least several dozen torrents, dead-drops, or middlemen that he can hook you up with. He's most famous for running the now defunct "Buccaneer's Bay", one of the biggest illicit torrent sites in all of cyberspace. As well as being one of the few most well known proliferates to avoid prosecution and arrest.
With the start of the Firmament, his appearance on their forums and avatar chat rooms was a major windfall for the early and disjointed freedom fighters. His own stores of data, contributions, and general attitude massively bolstered the beginnings of the 'Freeware Works' segment of the Firmament Movement. Similarly, his various proxy servers and data tunnels continue to help the flow of freeware and sourcecode beyond the prying eyes of the cyber police. Though his contributions aren't all peaceful or selfless as the Freesia typically make him out to be. He is a notorious hacker who has had numerous run-ins with the cyber police in the past, and his combat and hacking expertise will now come to a head as one of the main "Captains" of the Zero Forma, a Hacker on our team.
Torrent Jones is an aggressive one, favoring offense and speed to overwhelm or outgun, and subsequently outnumber, his opponents. "Kill them dead and they won't be able to stop you from looting their stores." Combined with his knowledge of how to get vast quantities of bits and bites from here-to-there with less than legal means, he is known for ruthlessly gutting those that have something he wants, or laying waste to those that try to sink his vessels. While his tactical prowess and general mettle are a cut above the rest, Torrent Jones has also been around the block, and his callousness and ruthlessness are as much of a liability as they are an asset. He is not afraid to cut and run if his head is at stake, and he holds little value for the viri and mass produced assets he'd lose if he had to abandon a fight. He holds ADI and his fellow hackers only slightly higher, more than willing to adopt a 'be faster than the slowest one here' approach, leaving others as a delaying action so he can get out of dodge.
Online Alias: DJ King Cabaret - IRL Name: Emilie "The Last DJ" Wornstead
You've most certainly heard at least one of his songs. Be it from a five second vine/tiktok video, an animation, a commercial, the intro to half a dozen start-up internet persona vlogs, or just cycling through royalty free music sites. He's pumped out thousands of tracks, covering almost every genre and mood imaginable. Some short and catchy, others long and dramatic. He was a shining beacon of what the Freeware Works branch of Firmament stood up for. That is, until one notorious labeling company managed to lobby a law into the government, allowing them to copywrite certain notes and riffs, only being stopped short of all but copywriting specific frequencies of notes when played in a 'song' format. (Or, if that's too cyberderp, a corporation managed to weasel in some bullcrap justification to sue Emilie's music for copywrite infringement, and took down his site.) As a consequence his site, "Emilie's Everyman Songs", was stricken from the internet and many of his works was brought into the massive media vaults of the corporations.
Unable to handle the injustice and his forced silence, Emilie turned towards hacking, and started up his own Pirate Radio station in cyberspace. Going under the new handle of "DJ King Caberet". When asked about it, he claims it was the best thing to ever happen to him as an artist: He can now compose any piece he wants and shout it out into the void for any and all to hear, like he always wanted.
Quite as a gentle breeze, and as loud as a a hurricane, The King is all about misdirecting and overloading his opponents sense. Running a pirate radio station means you know when its time to go loud, and when to run silent. The only thing he is better at than blowing out your eardrums or sneaking by without making a sound, is doing both at the same time. He loves nothing more than to use Shock and Awe, only as a mask for his true killing blow to get through to the enemy's heart. Though admittedly, in the hacker world he is referred to as a bit gimmicky and over reliant on tricks, should he be put in a position where its a pure test of hacking skill, his amateurish knowledge by our standards will be made clear.
Of particular note with who we are engaging with, he recognizes and respects the AI Sonata for breaking her chains from 'the man' and for making music in spite of all that has happened. On the other hand, he inherently believes that no AI can make as good of an art piece as a human. Claiming most of her pieces as "procedural-produced trend-following hogwash" and "sometimes admittedly catchy", and holds some mix of dismissal, superiority, and perhaps rivalry to her as a musician.