Keefer York

Financier of the Syndicate
InSpector of HQ #BB3201
Associate of the Divergent Disquisition
Chief Research & Information Officer of Phillip & Dantz Legal Firm

Description


~Bet it pisses you off to see a well-to-do black man in a sharp Fioravanti suit, with a Bvlgari watch and Berluti leather shoes. Bet it just makes you steam that this African-American went to college and made something of himself, and you’re just serving him coffee or writing him a ticket for speeding in his BMW M7. And we bet you’re just shitting bricks to know this “brother” isn’t even 35 and has a personal barber keep his hair trimmed short and a personal hygienist insure he eats healthy and always looks great. But don’t get cocky. You can bet this high-powered lawyer won’t hesitate to sue you for defamation and slander. Or maybe you’re a more tolerant person, and it’s just fine by you that this man has more money than you’ll ever understand.~

OOC: Appearance 3; Style 1

"Need I cite the case of Feist vs. Rural? Take whatever research of his you need. I'm sure we can show the judge that his hack work is far from original."

History


Silver Spoon

Many of the Enlightened as well as Reality Deviants of Centropolis, Missouri, did not grow up in the city. Many migrated here or were assigned here. Keefer York was an exception to that trend. He was born and raised among the upper crust of society. Keefer did indeed eat his Gerber’s from a silver spoon, and his professional parents made sure the nanny took good care of their only child.

Both of Keefer’s folks were criminal defense attorneys. Inundated in legal discussions, Keefer could have either rebelled and rejected that way of life, or embraced it and become better than either of his parents ever were. Their beliefs shaped Keefer, giving him pride and strength to stand up for what he knew what was right even when it wasn’t popular.

So he never gave a damn that many of his fellow prep school students mocked his distaste for the sport collectives. Keefer just didn’t feel like explaining the risk of his hemophilic condition. Besides, he refused to be the rich prat they would become when they hit college and joined Sigma Phi. (Granted, he had no problem joined a fraternity, and would do so his freshman year at Princeton.)

Keefer graduated with a Bachelor’s in corporate law and already had career invitations lined up from major firms, even right nearby in New York City. But he wanted to stay close to home, to the network of friends and legal connections his parents made. He accepted a job at the Phillip and Dantz Legal Firm.

Check the Planner

That was where the promising young lawyer met Dick Denvers. A major player in the firm, as head of the board of directors, Keefer knew that this big boss was key to advancing his own career. What Keefer wasn’t expecting was how Mr. Denvers surprised the bright man. Keefer snuck into his boss’s office to try and get a grasp of how the man did business, and what plans he might have for Keefer’s own career. He timed his intrusion for when his secretary had to run to the bathroom (due to the Ex-Lax with which he spiked her coffee).

What Keefer did not expect was the information Dick left on his computer desktop. It was almost as if Dick wanted Keefer to discover that data. It was amazing stuff: economic formulas he never heard of, yet made sense in an obvious “duh!” fashion once he read them. There was a networking program with a tree of people in the community with whom Dick Denvers clearly planned to (or already had) network and draw into his business schemes.

The secrets brought Keefer York the Empowerment for which he long sought. It was indeed a set-up, and Dick Denvers strolled in to catch Keefer with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar. But instead of chastisement, he was congratulated.

Fiscal Cents

So began Keefer’s induction into the Syndicate, Financiers branch. Dick oversaw Keefer’s “on the job” internship-style education at the firm. The older Financier was pretty hands-off, presenting a problem and letting Keefer resolve it with his own talent and brainpower. He was taught the fundamentals and the Enlightened techniques he would need to use. How and why Keefer used that knowledge was the trick, Dick advised.

And over this period of master/apprentice-like instruction, Keefer pursued his legal career. They complimented one another perfectly, being a lawyer and agent of Syndicate. The young Financier lined his pockets and made friends in high places, all with Dick’s tacit approval but rarely ever the senior’s direct assistance. Every agent had to make his own mark and earn his own corner office.

Yet that was just what Keefer was doing. He handled a variety of cases dealing with corporate, trade, and fiscal laws. Judges knew him by his first name. Prosecutors and defense attorneys alike respected his opinion. Many whispered that he might one day sit on the Supreme Court.

Control

But it was his work with patent laws that drew him the most attention, and the least desirable sort. An inter-Convention request was passed down to Keefer to ensure a non-Technocrat inventor would not be able to present his work to the public, at least in a way that would make the inventor wealthy. And as everyone knew, if it can’t make money, the consumers would never know about it.

That brought Keefer into contact with a brilliant young scientist at an independent firm in the region. The scientist was trying to market a neural robotic limb for crippled persons’ home use. It would make cybertechnology that much closer to the average American’s grasp. And Americans weren’t ready for that, they weren’t ready for all the glory of the Machine. Cybernetic implants shouldn’t be sitting on bathroom shelves next to electric razors and power toothbrushes. Not yet. When they were ready, it was up to Iteration X to disburse those wonders…not some hack inventor off the street.

So Keefer sued for patent infringement. The scientist, a man named James Underwood, was furious but helpless. To make matters worse, right there in the court room Mr. Underwood threatened Keefer’s life and limb. The man was escorted out, and a shaken Keefer left without pressing charges. He couldn’t understand why he was so scared. Nor did he realize that Mr. Underwood had gotten a good sniff of Keefer’s true nature…

Luckily, the matter seemed to have been dropped. Keefer returned to the firm, working ardently to further the goals of the Syndicate. An impressed Dick Denvers left Keefer to his own devices, but Keefer knew his patron would assist if he really needed help and asked properly. The lawyer made it his duty to bring respect to the law, and to do that, the law had to be put on a pedestal…not because it should be there, but because everyone knew it deserved to be there.

Significant Other


For the past few years, Keefer had been on the lookout for a media connection. In Celeste Mournay, ace television reporter for CCBN, he found it –- and more than he expected. Their professional acquaintance skyrocketed into romance. Now they’re escorting each other to charity balls and enjoying intimate closed-door office interviews. If Keefer knew about Celeste’s Kindred connections, he would have a serious decision to make. He would have to either break it off, or gain permission from his superiors to exploit Celeste’s connections for the Syndicate’s benefits. Most likely, he would choose the latter -– Celeste is an enjoyable companion. And then secretly, he would turn to other Conventions for aid in severing her Kindred connections safely and definitively.

The Kindred acted first, and that was the end of that.

Celeste

Weakness
Such a Lawyer


He epitomizes the double-talk and little white lies of lawyers. It's almost pathological, his tendency to never tell the whole truth. That ends up alienating people once they discover that he hasn't been totally honest with them.

Likelihood of Corruption


Average.

Greed does not drive Keefer, but neither do particularly righteous convictions. He's all about subverting the system from within to improve that system. That can lead to unscrupulous ends.

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