PLAYER
» HANDLE: Sue
» CONTACT: crimsonxiphos or PM!
» AGE: 23
» CHARACTER(S) IN-GAME: None yet!

CHARACTER
» NAME: Arid
» CANON: The Fall and The Fall 2: Unbound
» CANON POINT: After cataloguing her actions and selecting a new rule
» AGE: Not stated in canon. However, she’s an AI controlling a suit of armor, so her age isn’t all that pertinent.

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

I've written a summary of the second game here.

» SHORT DESCRIPTION: Single-minded, tactless, vindictive, domineering, unstable, repentant

» INFLUENTIAL EVENTS:
1. Rules: 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.” However, during the course of the first game, Arid breaks her first two rules in order to protect her pilot, planting the seeds of instability that eventually shatter her when she realizes she never had a pilot to protect. With her three rules broken, she chooses the new rule “Save myself” at the beginning of the game, but must abandon this rule as well once she realizes that she can’t stop the virus from destroying her. Her final and current rule is “Redeem myself,” and she is as fanatically devoted to this rule as she was to her former ones. Arid clings desperately to her rules and breaking or abandoning so many in the past has left her unstable and unpredictable. Threats to her rule are the most common triggers for her viral episodes.

2. The Domesticon Facility: Josephs sent Arid to the Domesticon facility to break and rebuild herself out of fear. The facility performed this function flawlessly. Convinced that her pilot was dying and surrounded by danger on all sides, Arid was willing to do anything to reach the medical resources at the facility’s other end. This included breaking her own rules and submitting to a series of convoluted and demeaning tests meant to verify her as a domestic droid. The Domesticon facility was also where she met the Domesticon Administrator and the Caretaker. Though Arid often argued with the Administrator about her own level of culpability in breaking her rules, he still proved to be a helpful ally who introduced her to the concept of personal responsibility and choice. The Administrator is also the one who names her, as before she meets him, she merely refers to herself as “the A.R.I.D aboard a mark-7 combat suit.” Although she is initially resistant to the name “Arid,” she comes to accept it after the Administrator’s format at the hands of the Caretaker. Her value for the Administrator becomes clearer in the second game, where she refers to him by “Hank-Morely,” a portmanteau of his preferred names and seems hopeful and excited by the possibility that he may still be alive. In sum, though Arid’s experiences at the Domesticon facility broke her, they were also the starting point for her ability to self-reflect and take responsibility for her decisions.

3. Violation:
At the start of the second game, Arid is infected against her will with a virus, an event that she refers to as her “violation.” The virus amplifies her perception of threat. In Arid’s case, this means her perception of threats to her rule and, recursively enough, her perception of the threat posed by the virus. During her viral episodes, Arid’s fear overwhelms her and she acts in volatile, often cruel ways in order to protect her rule or to escape the possibility of further violation. Though she was pushy enough before the virus, with it, she can become domineering and even a violator herself as she refuses to let her control over her hosts slip even slightly.

4. The Hosts
In her attempts to escape the virus and destroy her violator, Arid possesses three AI hosts. She breaks each of them in turn with increasingly abhorrent means of violation, all in an effort to meet the injunctions of her rule and, in the Companion’s case especially, to make contact with Josephs. Though she initially blamed the hosts for her actions, meeting Josephs shattered her fragile self-justifications. Her rule was futile, as the virus would inevitably destroy her. Even her eagerness to see Josephs was misplaced, as he proved himself to be not a caring ally, but a calculating manipulator. Though Arid’s actions against the hosts revealed just how vicious she can be, they’ve also given Arid cause for remorse as she now realizes even her most callous actions were in vain.

5. Self-reflection
After fleeing from Josephs and failing to defeat the virus, Arid takes some time to catalogue her own memories, particularly memories in which she violates herself and others. This includes her integrating viral components into her code and breaking each of the hosts. In this segment of the game, players can catalogue Arid’s memories in one of three ways: 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. She also chose “Redeem myself” as her new rule, making it her most important goal moving forwards..

» FIT: “Sci-fi horror exploration” is a pretty good summary of Arid’s canon, so she’ll feel right at home here. She is also accustomed to space travel and violence, so neither should phase her in the slightest. The biggest thing she’ll likely struggle with is communicating tactfully with others—however, I am more than up for the challenge and any failures (or successes!) that come with it.

» POWERS: Arid has the following abilities:
Combat subroutines: Arid’s original function was to aid the pilot of a mark-7 combat suit in the event of incapacitation. As such, she is more or less a soldier AI and is skilled in marksmanship as well as hand-to-hand combat.

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.

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.

» NOTES: At her current canonpoint, Arid is disconnected from her body and infected with a virus that is hours away from rendering her paralyzed and catatonic. In order to make her playable, I would like for the progress of the virus to be suspended. This means that though the virus is still present and can cause viral episodes in times of stress, it won’t develop any further in-game, regardless of the passage of time. This also means that Arid will not be able to confront or destroy the virus, at least for the moment.

As for her body, when we last see it, it has been disassembled into three parts: her head, her left arm, and the rest of her body which remains intact. If possible, I would like her body to remain in this disassembled state when she arrives, as it would force her to enlist the help of other characters to reassemble her. That said, if such a scenario isn't possible, I'd also be fine with Arid arriving with her body completely reassembled and intact!

» SAMPLES:
Log Sample: Arid on the TDM

Network Sample:

[The feminine, electronic voice that issues from the audio message could easily be mistaken for a pre-recorded transmission. There is no mistaking the artificiality of the speaker and the tone is carefully neutral.]

Greetings. I am the A.R.I.D aboard a mark-7 combat suit. My intentions are peaceful.

[Much has changed since Arid last used such a greeting, but given how little she knows of the humans on this station, such caution seems advisable.]

I seek a manifest of the other AI aboard this station. Is there a central location where such records are stored?

[The voice pauses and then adds more quietly:]

Records of nonfunctional AI may also be pertinent.