Rom is an LGBT teen living on the streets. We learn more about him in grydscaen: tribute. Rom who’s real name is Eleric Stuart was originally from the metropolitan City before he was captured by the government and they wiped his memory. Rom is a hacker who was affiliated with Jester’s hacker guild in the City before he had his memory wiped and they threw him out on the streets of the Echelons with no memory, no history and only the clothes on his back.
Rom is a Level 9 hacker, the highest level of hacker you can be. In the short story “A Storm’s Coming” we see Rom surviving on the streets assisted by the Zone Police officer Xander Storm who gives him a protein pack because Rom has not eaten for days. Rom goes dumpster diving to find food and lives in a subway squat which he eventually turns over to Faid Callen, the founder of the Packrats, and it ends up being the location where the Packrat Sprawl first starts.
In the short story “Rogue” also from grydscaen: tribute we find out that Rom has electronic cybernetics in his arm which he uses to store videos, memories and data that he has stolen by hacking into the government. His arm job was done by the Black Holes which is a group of data pirates who work in DNA based technology and cybernetics.
Faid rescues Rom from the streets after he is beaten up and left for dead by government agents. He is taken in and becomes a Runner. In order to keep his standing he has to fight for his position. He ends up fighting Shine who is a Waste and initially wins.
Rom’s signature clothing is a black silk ripped up shirt with the holes sewn up, black leather ripped pants and a dirty tan long trench coat. Rom has a dirty blonde Mohawk which is long and not spiked up as his hair is shaved on the sides.
Rom becomes an important character in grydscaen although he has a minor part. In later stories Rom gets a mate pair and it is a surprise who actually ends up being with him.
The data Rom has in his arm job could take down the government of the Pacific Territories. The government wiped his memory to get him out of the way. He also has a handheld which contains data and images of top secret documents. Rom’s handheld looks like crap but it is state of the art having been built with cutting edge technology. He has it while he is on the streets and it is only in the short story Rogue that we find out the treasure trove of data that it contains.
Rom is shy and average looking by standards and could never be a successful host. He has friends on the street including his beautiful host friend who works out of The Hole, X-rated magazine shop, and Iin, the transgender girl who eventually becomes the Packrat trance channeler when Rom tricks her into coming into the clan.
Rom is a gentle soul. He can fight because he has to survive on the streets but he tries to stay away from it. His father Mr. Stuart which is the head of the Parliament in the City does not know Rom is on the streets for at least 8 months until the Packrats send him a message carried by a data messenger.
Rom is a Level 9 hacker and after Rogue we see him get his memory back and all his hacking skills. He ends up being a pretty important person for the Packrats and continues to hack into the government at Faid’s command.
Rom has a radio show in later books called Packrat Underground which gives out tips about surviving on the street, news about hacking and open source tools and talks about subversive actions against the government. The radio show moves frequencies often because the government will take the show off the air if he is found broadcasting. He puts up stickers on the walls in the Echelons with the IP address the show broadcasts on every Friday. The IP address changes with each broadcast making the stickers necessary to find the show.
Packrat Underground comes back to the grydscaen blog in late February every Friday hosted by Rom. Tune in for it and more from the grydscaen world.
