Jake Armitage

''The cold storage drawer opens to reveal the fully-clothed body of a man, arms folded across his chest. In addition to sporting some of the brightest orange hair you've ever seen, the body seems to be in very good condition... In one quick move, he jumps down from the drawer and stands before you. For someone who just woke up in a morgue locker, he seems unfazed and pretty well put together. You spot a datajack drilled into his temples and some shamanistic tattoos peeking above his collar - an interesting combination.''

Jake Armitage is a character in Shadowrun Returns. Previously he was the lead character is the 1993 SNES videgame Shadowrun where he starred as a shadowrunner and data courier in Seattle in the 2040s and 50s.

Background
Jake Armitage was a shadowrunner hired to serve as a courier for information who was shot by assassins and left for dead in 2050 in Seattle after negating cooperation from Drake and ending his run. However his life was saved by a shapeshifting lupine figure named Kitsune, that revived him. He awoke in a morgue with amnesia because of brain damage, more specifically, loss of a part of the brain.

Trying to piece together his memories and determine who wanted him dead, he returned to work as a Shadowrunner. Jake is a rare Shaman mix with ranged combat and Decker cyberware, because he had it implanted before discovering his calling as a Dog Shaman, his spirit protector and guide.

He discovered that his head not only contained a bomb, but also crucial data he carried as a courier without his knowledge. This data was a program designed to kill a malevolent artificial intelligence created and protected by Drake and Aneki Corporation, so he finished his run by killing Drake and destroying Aneki.

Interactions

 * In 2054, he assisted a fellow shadowrunner in investigating the Ripper killings in Seattle.
 * He was a drinking buddy of Sam Watts at the Seamstresses Union and is pleased someone cares enough to investigate his death.
 * Jake has some trouble with the Halloweeners gang that he could use your help on.

Speculation
While the plot of Shadowrun Returns in which he appears, was loosely adapted from Robert Charrette's novel Never Deal With a Dragon, the name "Armitage" is likely a reference to a character from William Gibson's novel, Neuromancer; written in 1981 and possibly the most influential book in the Cyberpunk genre. However, Jake Armitage more closely resembles the main protagonist in Neuromancer: Henry Case.