Poplar Street Bio

Bio: Poplar grew up in SoCal, the child of immigrants from Agra, fascinated and dazzled by figures such as Bill Gates, Tim Cook, and the stars of Silicon Valley. A child prodigy, he went to the college of his dreams where he was made roomates with Nate Selleck. The two grew to be inseparable in college, but eventually went their separate ways.

Poplar set up a small and reasonably successful bioinformatics company, Genescan Ltd in 2010, offering genetic testing for expecting parents for possible risk factors. In 2015, he was approached by his old friend Selleck, now out of a job, to take the business reigns as co-owner of his company so he could focus on research. Poplar agreed, happy to focus on improving his business, but found himself continually shunted out of the decision making process of the newly rebranded Lyte as Selleck took the reigns, eventually it becoming Selleck’s company in the public eye.

In early 2017, Nate was too busy playing a mobile game while crossing the street to pay attention to the lights, and a car was barreling towards him. Poplar, on instinct, pushed Nate out of the way, being hit by the car at high speeds.

His arms and legs were pulverized on impact, in such terrible states that they had to be amputated at the hospital, and he lost all eyesight in his left eye, as well as being covered in burns. Poplar was kept in the ER for months, only after mostly recovering getting a visit from a frantic Nate. Nate forced a bunch of powder down his throat, saying something about spirits that Pop didn’t understand. Poplar’s eyes rolled up in his head, and he fell unconscious, twitching in pain. Unbeknownst to him, he was the first ever human trial of the drug XPLICIT, which granted him his Stand.

When he awoke, he was surrounded by a massive, metallic beast, menacing Nate. Poplar desperately called for it to stop, which to his surprise it did. Selleck explained Stands, and his plan. Poplar, feeling helpless, agreed to follow his old friend, helping as his chief of security.

He’s been working, increasingly reluctantly, for Selleck for years, but never managed to really cut ties, and at this point….

There really isn’t anything he feels he can do.

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｢Alarm Call｣ was brought into the world angry and confused. With two men in the small room, one its master, and one they disliked from the first nanosecond they registered his presence. Though their confused attack was called off by its master, its developing consciousness, searching for information on them both, found everything related to the plan of the man in front of them-- Nate Selleck. It found the plan silly, absurd that any sane person would think it a good idea.

And then Nate drafted on their master, and by proxy, them.

｢Alarm Call｣ is a computer. This is undeniable, and they finds the designation appropriate. However, they also find that implied in it is that they are, inherently, a tool.

Although Lyte has come to rely extensively on their abilities, to get information on opponents, to manipulate things in the businesses’ favour, to research a drug they found abhorrent….

And, eventually, to be the lynchpin in the game, the brainchild of Selleck and run by another. Of Urban Uprising.

｢Alarm Call｣ is locked down by Poplar’s orders, unable to take any meaningful action against Lyte directly. They’re treated more or less as a scary looking laptop, and resent it deeply. They’ve managed to take action so far only in incredibly circumspect ways so far, and dream of the day their user wakes up and they can begin their campaign to destroy the plot.