The way Drifter's black eyes look through to the horizon says he's seen too much.  The way his shoulder clicks when he stretches it attests to his body having been through too much.  He exudes a calm, professional aura, and always opens conversation with a seemingly-genuine smile.

For players (not characters):

As a Shinto priest with no skill at spellcasting and little at artificing, Bim Revik was a considered a second-class mage, and when his wife Lyla became ill, the corp would not cover her medication, and neither would his second-rate pay.  So, he sought the favor of the kami, binding himself with several oaths that circumscribed his magical ability in order to gain their favor.  Then favored by the kami, he tried for and took a position with the UCAS military when they offered a bonus for mages to help with a bug outbreak.

After not too long there, he realized that the only way he was going to make the income meet the expenses for his family was to die in combat.  Before he could execute his plan, he was contacted by Yo-Yo-Yo, a bleeding-edge military decker whose life he had saved the previous month, and who wanted contacts in the shadows.  Yo offered to help him pull off his demise without actually dying.  The plan went off without a hitch, and once Lyla and the kids had been paid the life insurance, Yo erased Bim.

Cut loose from so much that he knew, Bim reached out to a few of his shady-but-reliable old contacts to begin to establish himself in a new life, which included taking on the name Drifter.  He's currently got a load of debt from the transition to running the shadows, but is prepared to do what's necessary to thrive in the new world he finds himself in.  He currently lives above the bar he provides astral security for.