Westjer Airijac
Character
Westjer Airijac
| Aliases | A, Mr. ÆM |
| Birthplace | Denon |
| Age | 82, eighty two |
| Occupation | Chairperson of the ÆM Conglomerate |
| Faction | Corporate (Darkwire) |
| Residence | Westjer Tower, in the upper spires of Denon |
| Species | Human, Coruscanti |
| Gender | Male ♂ |
| Force sensitive | Not force sensitive |
| Height | 5 feet and 10 inches, 178 centimetres |
| Build | Healthy, but otherwise unremarkable |
| Hair colour | Gray-white from age |
| Eye colour | Conventionally brown, but flickers with shades of red occasionally - betraying their true nature as cybernetic |
| Skin colour | Bronzed, although artificially maintained |
| Distinctive features | Sleek blackened chrome cybernetics, as well as more subtle cybernetics spread throughout the body |
| Writer | [virtf] |
| Image source | [69XuXu69 on DeviantArt] |
Biography
Very little information is easily available on the up-and-coming medical tycoon, Westjer Airijac. It's quite clear to even the casual observer that no small amount of effort has been put into concealing his identity from the likes of the public. It's become quite a popular topic on the holonet and in dive bar banter, whether it's to collate the intelligence needed to take the Denon magnate down a notch or just to pass the time. What is known is that he is the second child of the Airijac family, a family of Coruscanti agricultural magnates with no small amount of wealth. The Airijac family as a whole are not nearly as secretive as Westjer; for example, it's broadly known that not only are they quite happy to comply with the relatively narrow and overbearing Coruscanti law and taxes, but also that the chair of Airijac Agricultural Solutions is historically passed down to the first-born child of each generation, while others are expected to sit on the board or otherwise contribute to the success of the company. Older reports, press releases, and documents submitted by the Airijac family to the Coruscant authorities also indicate that Westjer was disowned and exiled from the Airijac family and their fortune after he channeled a generous portion of the family's wealth to his own account while his father was on his deathbed. Notably, this was done after Westjer benefitted from expensive academic education in business and economics at the family's expense. Shortly after this, Westjer moved to the rich man's haven that is Denon.
After moving to Denon, Westjer purchased majority shares in the struggling health conglomerate "Health West", which was providing assorted health services across the western hemisphere of Denon. Leaked transcripts and phone calls circulating around seedy places in the holonet suggest that the Health West board was skeptical of the Airijac exile's intentions, but the credits were simply too good to pass up for the struggling conglomerate. Other documents detail generous donations to board members who successfully saw Westjer's aggressive corporate tactics adopted by the board, as well as to those who voted for him to take a seat on the board. Over time, Health West turned from a relatively holistic health services conglomerate into an aggressive entity with little shame about disrupting competitors and exploiting the working class for profit. Shortly before the chairperson and his supporters intended to execute a plot to have Westjer sent back to Coruscant on want of charges of corporate espionage by that government, a mix of well-supported criminal charges, family illnesses, and distant tragedies wracked most of their faction. The chairperson was arrested and convicted of fostering substance dependencies in order to boost profits - something that circulating transcripts suggest Westjer was responsible for. New board members were appointed, mostly from Westjer's supporters, and Westjer was elected as the new chairperson of Health West. Shortly after, Health West was rebranded as the Aeronautical and Electronic Medicine Conglomerate, stylized as ÆM.
After the rebrand and the wholesale adoption of aggressive tactics, ÆM's profits skyrocketed. Through wholesome means such as competitive salary packages and extending medical services to underserviced areas to malicious means such as corporate espionage, fostering substance dependencies for patented products, an extended armed live asset exfiltration and recovery program, and exploitative health insurance schemes, ÆM broke into the Denon 500 and continued to climb. ÆM fought with competitors and competitors fought with ÆM - and on occasion, ÆM even fought with the working class, leaving several tragedies which were hastily covered up - but despite several setbacks, ÆM has clawed its way into as high as the Denon 200. In one artificially extended lifetime, Westjer has turned from a Coruscanti corporate exile to a Denon oligarch; tabloids and news servicse, no doubt under the influence of no small number of donations, praise his success and depict him as the self-made man disrupting the Denon status quo and making health services available to the everyman. No doubt the countless staff laid off by ÆM, the protestors injured or worse when demonstrating against his company's direction at CorpSec's well-financed hand would have differnet opinions, and those unfortunate enough to be addicted to ÆM-patented substances only available through ludicrously expensive ÆM health insurance schemes, would all have differnet opinions to share.
Perhaps worse than all, rumors suggest that Westjer has his eyes on a bigger prize: on the top seat of the Denon Corporate Authority.
Strengths & Weaknesses
| Denon Oligarch | Gold-star bourgeoisie |
| On corporate ruled Denon, money does a lot more than talk, and prestige certainly helps. With the far-reaching tendrils and departments of the ÆM conglomerate at his disposal, as well as his own personal wealth and investments, Westjer has no small amount of either. Competitors and rivals have had tragic accidents, disappeared, or been accused of serious crimes before; likewise, many crimes raised against him have been suddenly settled out of court, or the judge and jury has had to change halfway through hearings who quickly rule in favor of Westjer. Perhaps most overtly, CorpSec officers have been known to liaise with ÆM private forces to disrupt protestors and arrest organizers should the loss in profits exceed the cost to deal with the problem, or elite staff from competitors wanting to jump ship are extracted by ÆM armed soldiers at any cost necessary. Yet despite how obvious this is, the Denon media praise Westjer as the self-made man and philanthropist - isn't it funny how Westjer just had lunch with the chairperson of that media conglomerate the other day? | True to the nature of his class as depicted by more... "liberal" scholars of the galaxy, Westjer comes with all the trappings of his status. As plainly historically demonstrated, Westjer and ÆM value the bottom line and profit margins more than any sort of health outcomes index or measures recorded, despite being a major health services provider in Denon and even in some areas abroad. Staff are laid off when convenient or fired days before they're owed the company pension, protestors are beaten and bloodied by CorpSec and ÆM private forces, and staff are encouraged to prescribe questionably addictive ÆM-patented medicines to patients where at all possible. Frankly, no measure of violence or oppression is off the table where the bottom line is concerned, and every punk worth their ripped jeans and liberty spikes knows it. Revolutionaries and hacktivists alike have every good reason to target Westjer, and they do; and that's without even mentioning the corporate competition. |
| Wise... | ...beyond his years |
| While bleeding edge rejuvenate treatments and cybernetics cannot grant anyone immortality, they can certainly help. With the assets of the broader ÆM conglomerate at his disposal, age does not humble Westjer like it does other men. Despite his years, Westjer is still strong in body and mind, unhindered in all but the gray of his hair. With his many years navigating the corporate hellscape that is Denon, Westjer has learned many things. In a young man's game, Westjer is an old dog, and even young executives eager to blood themselves know better than to lash at the old man who's survived for countless years in a young man's game. | This is not to say that these treatments are without their risks, or their laundry lists of side effects. An entire lifetime of being able to tear most successes or luxuries denied to him out of the bloody fingers of his competitors leaves a mark on a mans psyche, as it has to Westjer. His closest confidants might suggest that Westjer hasn't had a genuine interaction in years; or perhaps worse, that he might not even know how. Perhaps more relevant, Westjer is known to frequently visit his private health ward in Westjer tower with migraines, dizziness, and bouts of muscle fatigue, among other things. On occasion, he is even distant at important meetings, before later being forced to retire early to return home to rest. Naturally, the problem with bleeding-edge treatments is that they are experimental and come with the aforementioned laundry list of observed side effects. |
Inventory
Beyond expensive clothing and other such trappings of a Denon oligarch, Westjer carries little of note on his person. He is known for his cane, which he carries on his right side despite not often presenting with a limp in that leg. Images and videos circulate the holonet of Westjer occasionally being hobbled and having to use it with suggestions that his health may not be as perfect as portrayed. This cane, however, also serves other purposes after than the immediately practical one: it contains a suite of electronics that can monitor Westjer's health, track his location, and even be used to activate a distress signal. These signals are highly encrypted and rigorously monitored bu a dedicated 24/7 task force, but they have been compromised before.
Perhaps more notably are Westjer's suite of cybernetics. A generous portion of Westjer's body has been replaced with steel - most of it subtle, with only thin lines and circles drawn on the skin to suggest it is not entirely natural, but some more overt, depicted in a darkened chrome with gently pulsing lights. Most of these support Westjer in indiscrete ways - optimized brain function and live data searches and comparison, for example. The more overt of these cybernetics include his eyes, which occasionally flash shades of red as it captures video footage or data and writes it to a hard drive stored in Westjer's cane, and the cigar lighter stored in one thumb.