Jackie Bernard-Wu

Jackie Bernard-Wu

Statistics
Age 25, Nationality: American, Birthplace: Mountain View, California 1999.
Song of Ghroth: Third Stanza, Ghroth Points: 16, Mi-Go Conditioning: POW 60.

Combat

Skills

Accounting 25%, Anthropology 1%, Appraise 75%, Archeology 1%, Charm 35%, Climb 20%, Computer Use 75%, Credit Rating 75%, Cthulhu Mythos 1%, Disguise 5%, Drive Auto 20%, Drive Motorcycle 30%, Electrical Repair 40% Electronics 50%, Fast Talk 5%, First Aid 30%, History 5%, Intimidate 15%, Jump 20%, Knowledge (Fashion) 65%, Law 15%, Library Use 30%, Listen 40%, Locksmith 1%, Mechanical Repair 50%, Medicine 1%, Navigate 10%, Natural World 25%, Occult 5%, Operate Heavy Machinery 1%, Operate Radio Telescope 65%, Paranormal Studies 5%, Persuade 10%, Psychology 10%, Psychoanalysis 1%, Science (Astronomy) 45%, Science (Astrophysics) 40%, Science (Biology) 15%, Science (Chemistry) 15%, Science (Computer Science) 75%, Science (Mathematics) 70%, Science (Physics) 40%, Sleight of Hand 45%, Spot Hidden 30%, Stealth 20%, Streetwise 25%, Survival 10%, Swim 20%, Telekinesis ??%, Telepathy ??%, Throw 20%, Track 10%.

Languages: English native; Cantonese 25%.

Spells
Implant Suggestion?

Education
B.S. in Mathematics from Stanford University, 2021
M.S. in Quantum Science and Technology from University of California, Los Angeles, 2024
Ph.D. student in Quantum Science and Engineering, University of Chicago

Description

Jackie Bernard-Wu is a lanky young man with the demeanor of a frat boy grown into a tech bro, and projects the aura of “that guy” who’s one mojito away from suggesting everyone follow him to a second location, a place where they really know how to party. Hailing from a West Coast family of “crazy rich Asians,” Jackie favors Burberry chinos, designer Hawaiian shirts, and Italian boat shoes. He wears a Patek Phillipe Grand Complications watch, and has recently adopted a Loro Piana “Sergio” fedora. He speaks in a California Gen-Z accent, and peppers his vocabulary with the irritating diminutives, casual familiarities, and appropriated urban slang of his ilk—“Nah bro, you need to study up on the B-Wu lore, that was a whole ‘nother era—I ended that situationship and yeeted that chica!”

History
Born Jonathan Bernard-Wu on the last day of 1999, “Jackie” is the son of tech billionaire Solo Bernard and his wife Susan Wu, a jewelry designer from a wealthy Hong Kong family who shifted their interests to Silicon Valley in the mid 1990s. Their only son, Jackie is the youngest of four children, and well-understood to be his mother’s favorite. He was raised in luxury in Mountain View, California, where he attended the Harker School and excelled at math and computer science. He went on to earn a B.S. in Mathematics at Stanford University, where his classmates voted him “most likely to be fired from the company he founded.” Having acquired a taste for expensive fashions and high-octane partying, Jackie “B-Wu” decided to continue his education in Los Angeles, earning a Master’s degree in Quantum Science and Technology from UCLA.

Jackie then did something that astonished his parents—he enrolled as a Ph.D. student in Quantum Science and Engineering at the University of Chicago. Not that the University of Chicago is a bad school—but it isn’t exactly the Ivy Leagues, and Chicago is hardly, well, New York, LA, or Miami. After two years of graduate classes, Jackie once again astonished his parents by making the decision to get some “real world experience.” He suspended his coursework to do “field research,” applying for and accepting the Dalton Louck Fellowship at the Great Plain Cruciform Array in Nebraska.

Nebraska! After his parents threatened to cut off Jackie’s allowance, he demonstrated some heretofore unknown backbone and told them, “That’s fine.” The truth is, Jackie had become fascinated by radio astronomy, and wanted to research a potential project uniting his interest in quantum computing with more sophisticated data collection and analysis. It was probably the first time in Jackie’s life he expressed a genuine scientific interest, as opposed to a programmed career path, and his parents eventually relented. But one year only! After his “little project” was done, Jackie would return to school, finish his doctorate, and take a job in his father’s high-tech security company.

That was in January 2024. It’s now over a year later, and Jackie’s fellowship has ended. He should have already departed the GPCA and returned to Chicago. (Or, as his mother has pleaded, “You can always come back to California! Caltech or Stanford! Google says they are even more highly-ranked in quantum computing than the University of Hot Dogs and Middle-American Waistlines!”) So far, Jackie shows no signs of leaving. As much as he previously complained about being “trapped in the great party wasteland of bumblefuck Nebraska,” Jackie seems curiously content to putter away his time, drawing a respectable-but-hardly-amazing salary as a “dime-a-dozen” array operator. He’s demonstrated less and less interest in exploring quantum computing and revising the GPCA’s computer systems, and his monthly “party weekends” to Miami have all but ended. It’s almost like something else has distracted him. And why does he keep wiggling his fingers at things and using that strange voice?

Personal Life
Jackie loves expensive luxuries, fine cocktails, Call of Duty, and womanizing. He’s never had a serious girlfriend, and his list of male friends is pretty short, just a few other bros he partied with in Stanford and Chicago. The closest people to Jackie are probably his sisters, even though they’re jealous of his “favorite and only son” status.

Researching Jackie
Jackie has an Instagram account dedicated to sharpening his image with the ladies, but his name has also accompanied several impressive papers about mathematics and quantum computing. There’s also—according to his Instagram account—a drink named after him called the “B-Wu,” a sweet concoction created at his favorite Chicago tiki bar.

A more thorough investigation reveals an X account under the name “B-Wu-4-U,” used to repost fashionable pictures of hot actresses and flirt with various young ladies. He’s also an avid Call of Duty player, where he occasionally streams under the name BWu4U.

Notable Possessions
Jackie is surrounded by extremely expensive luxury items. He rides a Kawasaki Ninja 1000 SX, a purchase his parents do not approve of.

Reactions to Nemesis

Jackie has responded quickly to the Song of Ghroth, and has moved to the Third Stanza almost as rapidly as Jay Osman. In fact, sometimes Jackie wonders why he applied for the Dalton Louck Fellowship to begin with. Sure, he had ideas about radio telescopes, but why? Why did he want to be here in the first place…?

Jackie’s Transformation
To an outsider, Jackie seems a bizarre fit for the GPCA. He’s quite a party animal—although these days that’s been downgraded to drinking “brewskis” at the Iron Horse or “taking a walk” at Ballantine Gas—and he loves nothing more than bragging about “meeting hawt shawties.” He’s clearly brilliant, and could have a bright future ahead of him: finish his Ph.D., invest his family’s money in a start-up, make a zillion dollars in quantum computing—or at the very least, invent an app that further destroys the attention spans of America’s troubled youth. So what’s he doing here? For a kid whose graduation present was a $240,000 wristwatch, Jackie doesn’t need a job as a dish jockey, right?

This is all true, but what an outsider doesn’t know is that Jackie Bernard-Wu is hearing the Song of Ghroth, and that song is telling him that something amazing is coming, something really wonderful, something that’s better than fucking a pair of supermodels on Miami Beach, better than founding a tech startup that lands you on the Forbes 400 list. Every few days Jackie has these kind of…episodes, where he sees patterns in everything, “like John Wick visualizing the Matrix in that old movie.” And during these times, Jackie can do amazing things! He can move objects with his mind, he can hear people’s thoughts, and even better, he can control people with his mind! Not all the time, and sometimes it takes some extra finger wiggling, or a special tone to his voice; but when the patterns are dancing and the world undresses just for Jackie, he understands he’s becoming something wondrous and new. All he has to do is wait, wait for the Song to reach its glorious conclusion…

Jackie’s Delusion
The truth is, Jackie’s been going insane, suffering from a complicated and ever-growing delusion as the Song of Ghroth vibrates his brain. He believes he’s developing the powers of telekinesis, telepathy, and mind control; but his delusion won’t let him question why he can only move objects when he’s alone, or why everyone’s thoughts are always, “Jackie is so amazing!”, or why his powers of “mind control” often involve the transfer of funds from his bank account to someone else’s Cash App. In fact, Jackie has spent an obscene amount of money on sites like Patreon and OnlyFans, convincing himself that these “models” are only doing things because he’s willing them to do so—just like the girls at Ballantine Gas, right?

In order to sustain these delusions, Jackie’s been telling a lot of lies to himself and to his family. When his parents were distressed that he decided to extend his stay at the GPCA, he claimed it was “just for another few months,” only long enough to finish a project that’s going to put him “on the map.” When his middle sister asked to visit him, Jackie pretended he would be at a conference that weekend, and when he was supposed to come home for Christmas, he feigned COVID. He’s even been lying about his living situation. In order to sustain his extravagant allowance, Jackie pretends to rent an expensive apartment in North Platte and claims he’s dating a Chinese-American surgeon who loves travel and expensive gifts. In reality, he lives rent-free in the GPCA dormitory and spends his money on sex, cocaine, and luxury items.

Jackie knows that he can’t keep deceiving his family forever; but that isn’t going to matter soon. Very soon—maybe weeks, maybe months—Nemesis will grant him his final form, his final powers. And then the world will be, quite literally, at his command.

Episodes
As described above, Jackie’s Ghroth-related episodes develop and deepen his delusion that he’s gaining superpowers. Periods of manic activity alternate with crashes of lethargy and occasional bouts of lust. It’s up to the Keeper to determine just how far Jackie will take these delusions—or even more interestingly, who else may share them. Or, perhaps Jackie Bernard-Wu will actually hear the Fifth Stanza and begin to manifest these powers for real? Only the Keeper can say!

GPCA Relationships
Jackie doesn’t really like anyone at the GPCA, and they don’t like him, either. The only friend he’s made is Mason Dauterive, primarily because they both like to party, and they both dislike Director Neal. The astronomers regard Jackie as a talented operator, but they’re annoyed by his “frat boy” mannerisms. (Though Harlan Bennett in particular respects Jackie’s mathematical and computational skills; and if it weren’t for Ghroth driving them both insane, the two might have become closer.) Probably the person with the most antagonism for Jackie is Jenny Hooper, who flat-out told Jackie that if he ever hits on her or makes her feel “uncomfortable,” she won’t just report him to the NRAO Human Resources department, she’ll call his mother.

The Role of Jackie Bernard-Wu

At first, Jackie seems like an obnoxious tech-bro who alternates between manic bouts of partying and lethargic periods of recuperation. Fashionista characters and those comfortable with wealth may observe that Jackie is loaded—even more so than Diane Mancini or Jenny Hooper—and everyone can see he’s deluded about his sex appeal. But it’s only after Jackie starts having Ghroth-related episodes that his real delusions become evident: wigging his fingers at objects, claiming he can read minds, or commanding people to follow his instructions in some weird, Bene Gesserit-style voice!

It’s up to the Keeper to determine how Jackie may or may not break. Perhaps the player characters can force him to see reason, crack the façade and bring his delusional house tumbling down? In such a world, Jackie may finally realize that he’s throwing away his future, his family, and even his health. Consumed by remorse, he may help the characters end this terrible nightmare. Or, if the player characters push too hard, maybe Jackie will perceive them as a threat? Even before he began hearing the Song of Ghroth, Jackie was terrified of Neal, and would do anything to curry favor with the Director. It’s very possible for Jackie to become the simpering Renfield to Neal’s Dracula!

Notes and Inspirations

Jackie B-Wu is not based on any actor or television character—he’s an amalgamation of two different people I know, one from college and one from a former workplace. The photo used in the banner is clip art, and may or may not be AI-generated: who can tell? In any event, it perfectly captures Jackie, who’s admittedly a different spin on the character than the original Jack Bernard from “The Music of the Spheres.” If Bible Black were a movie, I suppose Jackie could be played by Christopher Chung, whose portrayal of Roddy Ho in Slow Horses captures Jackie’s obnoxiousness, if not his ostentatious degree of wealth.

Bible Black > NPC Profiles
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Author: A. Buell Ruch (Based on work by Kevin A. Ross)
Last Modified: 11 November 2025
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
Bible Black PDF: [TBD]