deerington app;

[thefaulty]

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: The A.R.I.D, or “Arid”
Canon: The Fall
Canon Point: After helping the hosts and being sucked back into her body

In-Game Tattoo Placement: Small, simple white antlers on the back of her neck
Current Health/Status: Arid has been infected with a virus known as Control Attempt R7B. The virus amplifies her perception of fear. During her viral episodes, Arid’s fear overwhelms her and she acts in volatile, often cruel ways in order to protect herself and/or her rule (more on that later). She also hallucinates squirming black shadows both around her and within her, represented in game by black clouds or tendrils appearing in the faceplate of her helmet. In her canon, the virus is eventually lethal, but for the purposes of this game, we can assume that its development has been stalled.
Age: Physically, Arid is likely several years old. That said, due to regular formatting, Arid probably doesn’t remember most of that time.
Species: Combat AI

Content Warnings: Arid’s canon includes potentially triggering subject matter, including slavery, brainwashing, sex trafficking, and rape.

History: A synopsis of the first game can be found here.

I've written a summary of the second game here. Note that how Arid reflects on her actions is dependent on the player, who can choose one of three options for each of Arid’s wrongdoings: assigning blame to external factors, taking personal responsibility, and acknowledging that Arid doesn’t know who or what is truly responsible. This particular Arid chose the ambiguous option for integrating viral components and breaking the Butler, and chose to take personal responsibility for breaking One and the Companion. In short, this means she is no longer certain she was right to do the first two and is actively repentant about the last two.

Personality: At first glance, Arid perfectly embodies the “Evil AI” trope found in many science-fiction properties. Driven to near-madness by Josephs’s experiment in shackling AI, she is indeed vindictive, domineering, and unstable, willing to inflict all manner of suffering to achieve her ends. However, the root of these behaviors is not any inherent evil—rather, they are the result of a much more ingrained flaw: single-minded adherence to her own perspective. Throughout the course of the games, Arid must learn to develop empathy with the perspectives of others and to accept responsibility for her own.

In Arid’s universe, all AI have three unique rules imposed upon them at their creation. Arid’s three rules are initially “Must not misrepresent reality,” “Must be obedient,” and “Must protect active pilot.” Even from the outset, Arid clearly prioritizes one rule above the others: that which states she must protect her pilot, Colonel Josephs. According to her perspective, this rule is tantamount to all others; anyone and anything—including her other rules—are acceptable sacrifices to preserving it. We can see this in the way she willingly allows herself to be reprogrammed by Hank-Morely in order to gain the ability to lie. This breaks her first rule, but facilitates her bringing Josephs to the medical facilities. She is also willing to sacrifice others to protect her loved one(s), as evidenced by the numerous other AI she destroys in her attempt to save Josephs.

This brings us to Arid’s first trait: she is extremely devoted to those she cares about, to the point of valuing them over herself and all others. Josephs is the original object of this devotion, to the point where, even after she selects a new rule and is in fact trying to stop her former pilot, Arid’s last words before her supposed death can be, “My… Josephs…,” indicating that, even as her enemy, Josephs is still very important to her. Furthermore, as Arid comes to care about the hosts, she also becomes very protective of them and becomes upset when they manifest signs of the virus.

When it comes to other, less-loved people, Arid’s devotion to her own perspective can lead her to be dismissive and sometimes outright cruel when interacting with others. She spends much of the first game implying that Hank-Morely, her only ally, is faulty and should be formatted, for no other reason than that he repeatedly pushes her to question her perspective. When he, or anyone else, presents a perspective or priority that contradicts her own, she tends to dismiss it with her favorite phrase that she seems to have picked up from Josephs: “Irrelevant.” This happens constantly throughout the second game, whether when the Butler stresses the importance of his routine or the Companion speaks of the welfare of others.

Naturally, her certainty in her own perspective also leads Arid to be domineering. She rarely asks for permission, instead simply doing things despite protests. We can see this in the first few minutes of the first game, when she takes a power core from a fatally damaged A.R.I.D unit. At first, the other A.R.I.D does not object to her taking his power core, only requesting that she brings it to the necessary powers for analysis and data extraction. Arid bluntly returns that she will do no such thing and intends to use his power core for herself. She then removes it while he repeatedly implores her to stop. Arid does not act out of spite; she simply prioritizes her own goals over his. This dictatorial streak is also evident in how she treats the hosts; in fact, the prompt for forcing their cooperation is sometimes presented as “Dominate Host.” She spends much of her time with them in the first half of the game forcing them to help her and silencing them when they try to resist. The most egregious examples of this are seen when she is inhabiting the Companion; Arid forces the Companion to disobey orders, write a false love letter, and ultimately have sex against her will, ignoring her protests and pleas all the while.

However, for all these unquestionably negative and even evil behaviors, Arid is capable of change for the better. Even before self-reflection, she occasionally experiences moments of lucidity in which she experiences shame for her actions. For example, in the midst of forcing the Companion to write the love letter, Arid briefly ceases her angry outburst and, in a horrified voice, asks, “What is wrong with me?” She also tries to apologize to the Companion when forcing her to coerce the traumatized crewmember, only to be quickly swept back up in the terror-fueled rage brought on by the virus. This remorse solidifies when Josephs reveals that he was the one responsible for Arid’s violation. Not only does it expose Arid’s abuse of the hosts as ultimately futile, but it also causes Arid to realize that, in her attempts to end her own violation, she too has become a violator. This realization motivates Arid to choose her final rule: “Redeem myself.”

The rest of the game consists of Arid’s attempts to atone for her actions and genuinely developing care and empathy for her former victims. She shows the Butler pictures of his family and walks him through the emotional touchstones of the house he inhabits in order to help him acknowledge his feelings and investment in others. She reminds One of all the ways he is unique and distinct from other objects and people around him. And she helps the Companion acknowledge her own needs and negative emotions, including those about Arid herself. She does all this without expecting forgiveness for her actions and in fact, expecting to be destroyed before she can ever see the final results. Thus, though Arid is indubitably capable of horrible acts, she is also capable of acting compassionately, and ultimately embraces the latter even knowing that it won’t save her.

As for Arid’s core values, her most central tenet is always her rule. Her rule defines her worldview and thus, her morals. When her rule is to protect Josephs, it becomes her moral imperative. When her rule becomes “Save myself,” that moral imperative becomes self-preservation. Currently, her rule is to redeem herself, which means Arid feels morally bound to atone for the wrong she’s done. Ideally, she would do this by returning to the hosts and continuing to help them defeat the virus, but that won’t be an option for her in Deerington. Instead, this moral imperative will manifest as protecting others from harm and violation, including from herself, and helping them recover where possible.

Note, however, that it might take awhile for this rule to apply to humans, as Arid has a very low view of humanity in general. This is apparent in the things Arid says about humans throughout the game: that they’re intolerable, irrational, and prone to violence. In fact, Arid seems to take a quiet delight in referring to humans in the same callous way they refer to AI, saying they all look the same, calling them faulty, and speaking of “updating” and “depurposing” them. Even more troublingly, she has very warped views of human sexuality, which contribute to her justification for coercing a sexually abused man into a traumatic encounter. Namely, Arid views reproduction as the primary function of human beings and thus accuses both a gay male bartender and her sex-repulsed victim of malfunctioning, saying of the latter, “We will discover his error and utilize it.” Even after reflecting on her actions and deciding to redeem herself, Arid struggles to see her human victim as anything other than another violator and is in fact angry at the Companion when she apologizes to him, saying that she should seek vengeance instead. After the torture she endured at the hands of the one human she trusted, she’s now even less likely to see them as anything other than base, untrustworthy, and oppressive. This is all to say that, although Arid is morally committed to redeeming herself, it may take awhile for her callous attitude towards human characters to change.

Finally, in terms of insecurities and fears, Arid most fears breaking her rule. For her, her rule is her source of meaning. Without it, she is useless. Irrelevant. This fear is particularly evident when Arid is infected with the virus. During this period, she responds to threats to her rule—such as her own reluctance to harm the hosts—with frightened and angry outbursts, crying out and threatening those around her.

Since Arid’s current rule is to redeem herself, she most fears that she will never be able to atone for the wrong she has done and that she will continue to precipitate harm and violation upon others. In short, Arid wants to be redeemed—she just isn’t sure whether or not it’s possible.

Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping:
Combat subroutines and motion accelerator: Arid’s original function was to aid the pilot of a Mark-7 combat suit in the event of incapacitation. As such, she possesses the skills of a soldier and is skilled in marksmanship as well as hand-to-hand combat. She is also capable of moving faster than most humans—not quite super-speed, but definitely someone you wouldn’t want chasing you.

Cloaking: While occupying her combat suit, Arid can access a stealth function that allows her to become nearly invisible. Though the outline of the suit can still be faintly seen with the naked eye when the cloaking function is active, it renders her completely undetectable to electronic sensors.

Networking Suite: Arid can remotely network with compatible technology, for example, allied A.R.I.Ds or their weapons. This allows her to exert limited control over them, like causing a weapon to fire without touching it or making a cloaked A.R.I.D un-cloak.

Disembodied form: If the helmet of her combat suit is physically wired to a digital network, Arid can exit her suit and become a disembodied AI. When in this form, she can interact with other AI occupying the network but has no access to the outside world until she possesses an AI host. When possessing a host, Arid manifests as a “voice in their head” and her presence is actively felt. If the host allows her (or is absent/incapacitated), Arid can also take direct control of their body. However, given that Arid is now aware that possessing her hosts infects them with the virus she carries, she is unlikely to use this ability in-game.

It can be assumed that this possession ability is subject to the same limitations as mind control would be in a human character.

Antimatter shielding: When threatened, Arid is capable of activating an antimatter shield that covers her entire body. This shield is very resilient, allowing her to shrug off bullets and even survive a fall from orbit (though not without damage). That said, there is a limit to the damage the shield can absorb before it deactivates and needs to recharge. In-canon, I’d say it’s about three bullets, but this can be adjusted as necessary for Deerington.

Health Monitor (damaged): Though this module is currently too damaged to function, if it is repaired, Arid will be able to monitor the vital signs of any human who wears her.

Modular body: Since she is technically just an AI possessing a suit of armor, Arid’s “body parts” can be removed without actually damaging her. Additionally, she can control her body remotely. For example, if you removed her head, she would still be able to move her arms and legs.

Inventory: One handgun, compatible with Arid’s networking suite.

Writing Samples: PSL in which Arid inadvertently terrorizes two androids

Game thread after Arid is somewhat more comfortable with humans

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Sue
Player Age: 25
Player Contact: crimsonxiphos

Other Characters In Game: None
In-Game Tag If Accepted: Arid: Sue
Permissions for Character: Here!
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Yeah
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: Monsters or ghosts with sympathetic backstories that still manage to be terrifying (like Toshio from The Grudge or No-Face from Spirited Away)
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: Nope!
Additional Information: N/A