Business Spotlight: Zhang's Thaumatheurgy

Zhang's Thaumatheurgy
2415 South 13th Street/Small Store Archetype/Zhang, owner and proprietor/No Racial Bias/LTG#402 (86-7530)

This is Zhang on a good day. Please note that he is smiling.

Zhang's Thaumatheurgy has been a mainstay of 13th Street for the past 50 years. The current proprietor, known only as Zhang, is the son of "Old Man Zhang", who was the son of "Grandfather Zhang", who started the shop back in 2018. Back then, Asian herbal and folk medicine was about as close to magic as you could get. When the magic came back, things picked up for Grandfather Zhang and his family. Despite doing fairly well over the years, the business has never expanded or moved. Zhang attributes this to his father's belief that if something isn't broken, you don't try to fix it unless you have to.

The shop is stocked wall-to-wall with tons of magical items - fetishes and foci, herbs and other ingredients, talismans, etc. But Zhang is no ordinary talismonger. A number of runners make use of his services as a craftsman an information broker. Need a piece of gear modified to fit your spellcasting style? Zhang and his family can do that. Want to do the job yourself? They can sell you the goods to do it. Can't pay? Zhang will cut you a deal - for the right bit of street info or lore if you've got it.

Molly, aka "Moxie", Zhang's daughter (artwork © 2016 GreenTigey)

Being a spellcaster, Zhang tries to stay on the good side of the local circles - namely the Silver Circle, Omaha's own magi council. As for the Star? Well, let's just say that Zhang has his own special relationship with Lone Star, Knight Errant, and their respective paranormal squads. At any rate, Zhang will sell to anybody of any race and metatype. He doesn't discriminate. He asks no questions unless he thinks something could come back on him or otherwise doesn't smell right.

While Zhang sticks to the traditional ways, his daughter Molly, aka "Moxie", is known for taking a high-tech approach. While nobody has figured out a way to automate spellcasting, she has taken the time from her magical studies to find ways of making it easier for mages to carry and access lore on the go. She also likes to dabble as a drone rigger, but is far from being runner material.

The only tradition Zhang broke was marrying an elf. The marriage didn't set well with Old Man Zhang and the rest of the family (who also had a "tradition" of selling only to human magi), but Zhang himself stood firm and made a point to keep the business profitable by expanding its clientele.

Design Notes: You'll note that neither Zhang nor his daughter have been statted out. They've got plot immunity, which means they might show up from time to time, but they don't run the risk of being killed off. I suppose if you have to have stats for Zhang, use the talismonger stats from the Friends and Foes section of the Shadowrun 4A rulebook.

Over 480 and through the 'Hood, to Zhang's Thaumatheurgy we go... (map by Google Maps)