Magnus Dekker - Battlestar Cerberus

1997 was the year in which Magnus Dekker was to be born. His Father, Ruben Dekker, was a Construction worker in Caprica City. His mother, Susan Dekker was a Waitress at a fancy restaurant called 'Violet'. They had a house outside the city, in a small apartment building.

Caprica, along with other Colonies, were still suffering because of the First Cylon War. A lot of places needed to be rebuilt, there was a lot of work to go around. Because of this, Ruben only got to see his child for a couple hours a day, at least during the first years. His mother got to be with him a little more but not as much as she would have liked. After all, she also had to work long hours.

Since he was little, both mom and dad noticed that Magnus was a very smart kid. Most of the toys he had were second hand, or heck, even third hand. Nevertheless, he figured them out rather quickly, specially the toys to build intellect. They also noticed that he wasn't the most social kid in the building, and as the years went by, they started to become alarmed by this. While the other kids were outside, playing; he was inside, writing, or reading or just, staring outside the window. Enough was enough, and his parents took him to see a doctor. To their surprise, the Doctor said that there was nothing wrong with Magnus and after doing a little tests, he said that the only different thing about him is that he was showing intelligence above the normal.

A couple years went by and now, a 7 year old Magnus decided that he wanted something (he never really asked for anything from his parents). He asked his father for a Computer. For a man with Dekker's salary, to be able to buy that for his son, wasn't the easiest thing in the world. So, because of this, Magnus received a computer at age 9. Still, this made the kid happy, quite happy and their parents noticed an improvement on their son's interaction with them. The kid spent a lot of time talking about his computer and playing with it. He started going to the Public Library, to take books on everything about them, he wanted to learn more and more. Soon, he found, Computer Science. Before turning 10, he had written his first piece of Software. The first one was simple, just a piece of code that saved strings of text into memory and then scrambled everything up. Without knowing, he created his encryption software (sort of) and he even had a way to revert it! Ok, for a 9 year old, it was pretty neat.

Of course, growing up right after the aftermath of the first Cylon War came with many prohibitions, at least on his field of interest. He soon learned that a very specific topic had been forbidden across the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Artificial Intelligence. Of course, when you are a kid and you see that something is forbidden, you become more interesting in the subject, at least this happened to Magnus. However, for the time being, he stored this thought. On top of that, while his parents were certainly happy that he became more social, they did keep a close eye on his activities with the Computers. They knew the kid was smart enough to question important things.

At age 12, he was much more skilled, at a scary level to some. His teachers noticed that he was spending a lot of time with his computer instead of paying attention in class, and yet, he was always getting top grades. Was he cheating? Well, they thought about this at first, and had him take a set of different test without notice. He aced them all. However, he got close to be expelled when he accessed student records over the school network. The principal told him that if he helped him point out all the security flaws in the network, he wouldn't kick him out, and so he did, finding a total of 213 security holes. These flaws, he fixed them himself, leaving the entire faculty with their mouths hanging open. This of course, created interest in the boy, not only by the High School itself, but by Caprica University.

More years went by, and Magnus even skipped an entire year after he aced the tests for that year ahead of him. At this point, he was the President of the Computer club and was even working at the School's IT department for a little money on the side. When he turned 16, he graduated from High School, top of his class, honor student. Caprica University offered him a full scholarship and this brought happiness to the entire Dekker family. His parents were in tears after finding out, because they didn't had the money to send him to the University and this will certainly grant him a better future.

2013 was the year in which he started the University, and his option was clear. Computer Science. What little social life he had at that moment, disappeared completely. He just dedicated all his time to his studies and to his work, which, at that point, was basically to be Head of the Computer Club and Network Security Administrator. He wrote encryption software that he installed in the entire network of Caprica University, and an ad was placed for Hackers (students) to test it out, try to break in. The award? 3000 Cubits. Nobody was able to. So, Magnus earned those 3000 Cubits, plus 3000 more. He also designed a programming language and a compiler that became famous for being awfully fast, making really good use of hardware resources. Magnus deployed this free of charge for all students, but he didn't release the source code. In addition, certain interest started to grow a little more within him. This was something that he first found back when he was a kid. Artificial Intelligence.

But the ban on the subject of AI was still running strong and he found little to no material to focus his studies on. At least nothing was to be found in the Library of Caprica University. He had to walk /a lot/ to be able to find just little material from small unknown book stores. And the books he found weren’t even related to the subject but made mentions of it and explained a couple things. So, this was enough to start.

In 2017, he got his BS in Computer Science.

In that very same year, he started working on his Master's Degree, so that didn't improve his social life. As a matter of fact, it went to a lower level. Aside from working on his studies, he got hired as consultant for several different companies. He studied their security systems, their networks and wrote entirely new pieces of software that would help them improve security even getting to the point of creating entire Communication Protocols. He also worked for banks, designing complex encryption systems to work with their credit cards and to pretty much protect the entire company. Needles to say, he was already being recognized as one of the top authorities in these fields, and at a very early age.

At this point, he had just a little more knowledge in the fields of AI but most of it, he was working it out on his own. He spent endless hours considering the possibilities of this subject. Endless opportunities for a stronger future, banned because of what happened with the Cylons. And while the AI subject was banned, he was able to find stuff on the Cylons, because people talked about it, because there were news articles about them. Indirectly, he got to see other sides of the subject. These were small bits and pieces, but he saved all that info.

Finally, he finished his thesis and delivered it to the University for consideration. Not only he was granted the Master's Degree, but he was also accepted in the PhD program. In addition, by doing work while studying, he made a lot of money and this money, he saved most of it. The rest went to his parents, who were able to buy a nicer house, moving to Caprica City.

In 2019, he started his PhD work. But not just this, he also created a startup company called 'Smart Systems'. The way he used to hire people, was something interesting. The company was to use his own programming language, along with the Compiler, but a different version, an improved one. It had new modules that enhanced the overall performance, making it even faster than its older brother. But, to get it, there was a catch. One would have to break through different walls of security that he placed in the disk and be able to break the entire encryption systems. These weren't the ground jewel; he didn't want them to be impossible, just nearly. Six hundred students and graduates downloaded this disk; only 3 were able to decode it. And so, Smart Systems was open for business, with a crew of four. Money started piling up really fast for them, for Magnus. They had contracts with Universities, with the Government and even the Military. Money was no longer a problem.

During his PhD studies, he became an expert on his fields of study; Computer Science with focus on Cryptography and Networks. While he was still a PhD student, Caprica University offered a Position as Assistant Professor. He accepted this new job, squeezing it in as much as he could. Given the enormous time constraints that he had, he took entry level classes and started teaching Freshmen students. Also, the level of quality in his work granted him a lot of recognition throughout the Scientific Community.

Four years, four years took him to get his PhD, but finally, at age 26, he finished his studies, or at least, his studies in the Caprica University.

Now, he had more time to dedicate to ‘Smart Systems’ and he was only to hire people, when a new Hacker appeared at its doorstep with Magnus’ encryption system, cracked. This never happened. For a while he conducted normal work within his company. The client list grew quite a bit, including more banks from Caprica and other Colonies, other Software Companies, Universities from Caprica and other colonies and for the Colonial Fleet. For this last, Magnus created yet another Wireless Network Protocol that made its predecessor look like a toy. It was designed with the Military in mind and with the need to protect all communications. Any package that was sent, had 64 layers of encryption and you didn’t have on package like the other, each one was unique and this made decryption 99%% impossible to break (because we know nothing is certain). Each hardware receiver had the embedded software routines needed to decrypt these messages. With this in mind, it meant that /everything/ moved through that Wireless Protocol would be secured in case of a breach.

Caprica University offered a full position as a Professor with complete freedom to on the Subjects that he wanted to teach. His PhD work left many people quite impressed and this granted him that freedom. Algorithms, Computer Communication, Computer Security and Programming Languages were some of the subjects he dived into. The extended interaction with students improved his social skills a little bit. While he was pretty reserved and didn’t use to engage people in conversations out of his own field, he would certainly answer every question the students had.

After his 29th birthday, was still playing with the idea of Artificial Intelligence. He kept searching for bits and pieces of information and kept working on his own, pretty much working ideas on his head. The idea of ‘what a great mistake we made to ban this’ kept growing in his mind and he was becoming a stronger supporter of this subject. Still, nothing of this was made public; he just made sure to keep doing research on his own.

If there is a place where you can get all the information you want, is in the Hacker circle, so Magnus decided to dive into this world, secretly. He took a Hacker name, ‘Letvio’ and after that, he started working on secure things out so he could start working without the danger of being caught.

‘Smart Systems’ had an underground floor, which housed the multiple servers they needed for processing power and data storage. He redid the entire floor taking space to make a new private office that would occupy half of the floor. After all, the company still needed to run. Blast doors, security cameras, high security systems that would only grant him access to the floor. Yes, he wanted things to be secret. The office was completely disconnected from the rest of the building; almost everything was hosted in a separate and secure local network. There was only one machine not connected to this network, but it wasn’t connected to the ‘Smart Systems’ network either, it was the only link to the outside world.

He designed a system that acted on his own local network and on the only computer he had connected to the outside world. This system made sure to erase traces of in/out packages from this computer. For each network package, the algorithm would generate a new link point, that way, hiding the true location of his station, from everyone. And it worked quite well for him, because it was a true success.

In the outside world, in the scientist community, he became an authority in the fields of Cryptography and Computer Networks. Receiving different awards for this plus more contracts for ‘Smart Systems’ He also received different offers, from Universities around the Twelve colonies, to either teach or give lectures. Given that he already had a Professor position at the Caprica University, he refused those offers but he did accept the requests to give Lectures. He provided these lectures in all the Main Universities across the Colonies and also, he was asked to give lectures at the different Colonial Fleet Academies. Still, after he was done, he returned immediately to his work.

He started playing with the idea of being able to replicate the human brain, its entire complex system. So Neural Networks and Brain simulation became topics of research.

In the Hacker world he started using his ‘nickname’ to connect to different agencies, first low security ones, finding backdoors and soft spots to place small snippets of code that would gather information for him. He also became familiar in the Hacker circle, at least with that codename of course. Quickly enough, he became an authority and someone that other Hackers around the Twelve Colonies would look up to, or hate. Still, nobody knew who he really was and his true goal was to gather information about other AI approaches, find their failing points and not commit them on his own research.

‘Smart Systems’ kept on business; he launched a set of Security based applications that formed a Suite of products. These were light based; nothing incredibly complicated but generated a lot of profit as well because they were designed for homes, to protect their local systems.

Now, at 33 years old, Magnus has learned more and evolved his skill set to even a greater level than what he had after getting the PhD. The Board at Caprica University decided to give him a new job, with a raise. He was promoted to Head of Department of Computer Science. He kept teaching classes in those prior specified fields but also was in charge of the rest of the professors teaching Computer Science related classes. He also kept providing lectures and attending conferences throughout the Twelve Colonies. His public image kept growing at a fast pace and in the public eye, he was known for being one of the most brilliant minds of the Century and for not being the most socially engaging person.

Two days after his 40th birthday, he was contacted once again by the Military with a new task, leading to a new contract. Magnus was to rewrite and enhance their entire communication protocols, improve security to even greater levels than before and enhance their whole range of ECM systems, included the ones installed directly in CIC and in the Raptors. Because of this of course, he had to receive training from the Colonial Fleet on their ECM systems, to fully understand how they work and be able to do more proper work.

The entire project took a little over a year including training, design, code and deployment. All the time, he spent switching locations from the Caprica University to the CFAB Caprica City. In this Air Base, his training took place and the first sets of Raptors with the new systems were deployed. After this, he was awarded by the Colonial Fleet due to his work for them. The entire enhancement set was deployed across the Fleet afterwards. His image kept growing in the Scientific Community.

A few months after that entire project was completed, he was invited by the Caprica University to join its board of Directors. And he accepted only with the condition that he was to continue his job as Department Head of Computer Science, his job as a Professor and everything that was attached to it. ‘Smart Systems’ kept on running at full speed with a different range of project for different Government, Private and Public units.

About six months after his 42nd birthday, and knowing that he had a good set of knowledge in the field of AI, he decided that is was time to make a full blown presentation to the whole Scientific Community. And this was probably, the biggest mistake he ever made. During one of the biggest scientific conferences in Caprica (where scientists from the Twelve Colonies gather to discuss a different set of topics) He gave a full lecture on the endless possibilities that the field of AI carried. He even discussed the possibility of replicating the human brain by means of Neural Networks. During that conference, his whole image took a pretty heavy hit and by many, he was labeled as a disgrace to the Scientific Community.

The Caprica University took the decision to fire him, because while granted, he was one of the most brilliant minds of the Century, they just couldn’t have someone with those views, teaching their students. They faced losing a lot of money, with parents pulling students from that University. Not to mention that they thought they public image across the Colonies would suffer. This even got public on all Colonies when the press found out. Magnus became victim of many different attacks; he even ended up in a hospital after being beaten up by an angry group of people.

‘Smart Systems’ was entirely sprayed with negative and abusive comments. Some organizations that were using his work, removed it completely and even crashed the copies they owned, as statement. The Government was one that did not remove his work from their systems, but the didn’t make public that they didn’t remove it. So all the new Network Protocols, all the Encryption and Security Protocols, all the ECM enhancements were apparently, still in use. Because come on, they worked pretty darn well.

Everyone knew that he wasn’t the one that built the Cylons, and everyone knew that they did not want to do harm. But that doesn’t matter, he was dealing with things that were dangerous in everyone’s eyes, and people dealt with it in different ways.

At age 43, ‘Smart Systems’ closed its doors and the entire building was demolished no long after that. Life in Caprica became really difficult for Magnus and his parents died just 2 years before he gave that speech. His entire career, at that point, was pretty much ruined.He took the first passenger liner he could and went to another colony, to try and start over. His choice was perhaps not one people would have expected, but it worked for him. Tauron.

He became a bit of a Hermit, only having for companion, his personal laptop. He kept to himself in the City of Hypatia, doing simple jobs fixing computers. Some people knew who he was, and they didn’t hold him in high esteem, but at least, he was earning a few cubits here and there. He kept writing code as well, never could ever take that from him, he kept working on new designs that never saw realization, one year later, the Cylons attacked.

Right from the start, he thought he was not going to survive. One of the walls of his house fell on him, but was stopped by an iron table at the far end. He was trapped underneath though, and he thought this was the end. He spent three days under that wall, calling for help every few hours, to save his energy, he screamed at the top of his lungs, and on the third day, a group of survivors found him, and pulled him out of there.

It was certainly refreshing, to see people trying to help him, and he made sure to help them in turn, in anything he could. He stayed with them for months and months, reaching his 45th birthday. One morning, a young kid ran inside the small building they were using for Shelter, he saw Colonial ships. And the rest? The rest is yet to be seen.

Immediate Family

Name	Relation	Notes	Status
Ruben Dekker	Father	Construction Worker	DECEASED
Susan Dekker	Mother	Waitress	DECEASED

Education and Work History

Year	Place	Notes
2013-2017	Caprica University	BS Computer Science, Graduated 1st in his class
2017-2019	Caprica University	Master's Degree in Computer Science, Thesis: Security - An Approach on Cryptography and Secure Networks.
2019-2023	Caprica University	PhD in Computer Science, In-depth research in Thesis fields.

Year	Place	Notes
2009-2013	Lambert Public School	IT Department
2013-2019	Caprica University	HD Computer Club, Network Security Administrator
2019-2040	Smart Systems	CEO and Main Developer.
2020-2024	Caprica University	Assistant Professor
2024-2030	Caprica University	Professor
2030-2039	Caprica University	Department Head, Computer Science - Professor
2039-2039	Caprica University	Board of Directors, Department Head CS/Professor

Physical Features

Magnus is a thin guy, also tall. He reaches 6 ft of height and maybe a little less than an inch more. He has short brown hair that seems it hasn't been visited by a comb in ages. His eyes are light blue in color. Long thin nose, a little thin lips. He has a short beard that for the most part, has the same color as his hair. However, right on the chin area, a few white hairs can be spotted.

The man is wearing a blue shirt, grey light jacket and jeans; along with a pair of brown shoes.

Psychological Evaluation

Magnus falls into the INTJ category. The Scientist.

For information about this, please click here

On the Grid

Known Associates

File Image	Name	Notes

File Image	Name	Notes
	LCPL Daniel Kincaid	This guy did my BG check. I was surprised that he didn't ask more questions.
	LT Natalie Vandenberg	One of my saviors and apparently, my nurse? I can tell she's a decent person, it shows. I look forward to talk with her again.

File Image	Name	Notes
	CPT Mark Makinen	Until further notice, just another asshole.

File Image	Name	Notes
	Ms. Sawyer Averies	Reporter. She's apparently going to print a story about what happened at the Elpis. There are some things I didn't told her, not sure if I should. I can see she has an interest in what MolGen was.

Extra Info

Computer Science: Anything related to this field picks his attention, so it's a great conversation starter.
Lectures: He basically gave lectures on all the educational institutions with a Computer Science program. Were you in one of them?
Disliked by many: Some just were never able to understand why he did research in the AI field. Negative feedback was what he got.
Professor: Did you attend Caprica University and sought a Computer Science degree? He might have been your Professor!

All Logs

Log	Type	IC Date	PHD	Info
Gravity	Event	31 Jan, 2042	339	For the MPs assigned to security detail on Elpis, what goes up, must come down.

Log	Type	IC Date	PHD	Info
Annoying is Annoying	Social	10 Feb, 2042	349	The ChEng is annoying, Magnus is too. They both are….annoying.
Dangerous AI	Social	08 Feb, 2042	347	Sawyer Averies interviews Magnus Dekker.
Two For One Interviews	Social	07 Feb, 2042	346	Kincaid interviews Magnus not only about the attack in the Elpis common room, but also about why he wants to join the Fleet.

Total (posted) log count: 7.

Gallery

Battlestar Cerberus

battlestar.isunlimited.net:3012

On the Grid

BSG-132

Ship's Library

Quick Reference

Background

Immediate Family

Education and Work History

Physical Features

Psychological Evaluation

On the Grid

Known Associates

Extra Info

All Logs

Gallery