Empanadas App
Player: Val
Contact:
Age: 21+
Current Characters: None
Character: Silke
Age: Early 20s (physically), 3 (years in service)
OC Type: Pure OC
Point Taken: Exactly seven months after being rescued out of South Korea and into Dubai.
World Building:
Silke is from an alternate-universe version of Earth, where technology spiked after the events of World War 2, exponentially speeding up technological advancement and paving way for the supernatural's return to the material world. By the time of 20XX, the Earth has reached a utopian present, but not without it's fair share of problems. An incident in the late 1940s have created portals all over the world that lets otherworldly beings enter the human realms and bring their destructive natures along with them. The incident brought on by experimenting with artifacts left behind by the old gods and mythological entities - collectively called the "Aldunari". Although this event was kept under wraps from the public, reverse-engineering technology from these "aliens" is the reason of the rapid technological change from the 40s to the present.Backstory:
The present was when the Spiral Consortium of companies - a global conglomerate of private corporations responsible for the 1940's incident, have revealed their existence to the public. Although only as a group of companies working together for a brighter future, and still keeping their link to conspiracies about experimentation on supernatural and/or alien subjects a closely guarded secret. But the Consortium's biggest secret involve rifts scattered all over the globe and the solar system leading to different parts of the universe, and to completely different ones entirely, proving the existence of a multiverse. Silke was part of a long line of human-like androids meant to be part of an expeditionary force to these alien worlds (called "Otherworlds"), and to defend humankind from any invaders that dared to cross the borders of the human realm.
Other differences in Silke's world to the real Earth are certain historical events taking place, such as a Second American Civil War (long before Silke's time) and a Second Korean War (not long after Silke's creation), with certain states and kingdoms seceding from their mother countries, such as Tibet, Scotland, Alaska, and Hawaii. Russia, China, The European Union, and a possible reunification of the Arab Caliphate become the world's peacekeepers in the absence of the United States, who are only starting to bounce back from the effects of the Second Civil War. There are bases on the Moon and on Mars, with a leisurely tourism-focused city on the Moon for the affluent. Short-distance space travel is within human capability, and an expeditionary force to go outside of the solar system is in play as a distraction for the public, to pry their attentions away to where the Spiral Consortium are really focusing their efforts in.
The War Of The Rifts, or the Outer Ring War is a secret war waged by the Spiral Consortium and their government allies to protect Earth from hostile invasions from these rifts. The war is a fight between humans against the old Aldunari that once roamed the Earth in the ancient past, and other mortal civilizations who are corrupted into a hostile frenzy by an unknown cause. With Spiral's weapons technology and the best hand-selected soldiers from the government and other private for-hire groups, the war is managed to be kept out of Earth and the public knowledge. For now.
Silke is a product of multiple technological companies, working together with the shared goal of creating advanced artificial intelligence, dubbed Project Heritage under the overarching Archon Program. The project focused on using human subjects, preying on people in critical condition with only a few moments to live, to volunteer and have their minds scanned, replicated, and be given new life as an artificial intelligence. Before her rebirth, Silke was a human woman from Boston named Helena Ackerman, well loved and with big dreams but was diagnosed with terminal stage cancer that gave her only a few months to live. This made her the perfect prey for the project which she eagerly volunteered in, ignoring the possible consequences of the procedure out of her fear of dying. Pressured into signing a waiver against her immediate family's will, members of the Project sent Helena away, taking her to the main facility of the Accelon research group in Busan.Personality:
The risk was great; as the process of scanning the brain to replicate its neural pathways rots away the original tissue, with a very low chance of success. It was either getting their minds uploaded to new bodies with no memories of their past, or outright dying. Desperate to show off their new technology, the Project continued despite risking the lives of the hundreds of volunteers, resulting in only a handful of survivors. Helena being among them and now given a new name: Silke, along with another man named Kiel. They were diamonds in the rough among those who are left after the experiment concluded, for her mind not only got successfully uploaded, but it left few and far between fragments of her memories as Helena that she sees in flashes. The Project took a heavy interest in this unexpected result, further testing Silke and Kiel's capabilities for years to come as support AI in multiple fields. Though their final test was for the military, which they proved efficient in. Like living beings, they continue to grow and learn until they far exceeded expectations put on them.
But soon after getting comfortable in their new duties, war broke out between North and South Korea, igniting a second civil war. News of the South Korean government cutting loose ends and prevent their enemies from copying the Project Heritage technology reached the facility. Not wanting to waste such rare successes, the loyal members of the Project uploaded Silke and Kiel's minds on to advanced data chips, to be uploaded into domestic android bodies and taken away from Korea in the midst of a shooting war. They were entrusted to two soldiers, members of a secretive paramilitary group by the Project Heritage's superiors known as the Spiral Consortium. One soldier took Kiel away to Russia, while the other took Silke to Dubai while they were unconscious during the uploading process. There, away from the politics and the raging war, the next step to Silke's journey was realized. Regaining consciousness again as the uploading process ends, her long disembodied mind was allowed to interact with the physical world once more.
It was then she was then given a choice: to come back to her old life with her original family back in Boston and pursue her old dreams as Helena, or to serve the Consortium as a support AI for its agents. But feeling her life has changed too drastically, and the pain of upsetting her family for going against their wishes was just too much. Silke opted to accept her new purpose, not seeing much of a choice for herself, eventually joining a paramilitary faction of the Spiral Consortium in a multiversal war as a support AI by the very same soldier who took her away from Busan.
A synthetic intelligence years ahead of her own kind, Silke's programming allows her intuitive thinking and interpersonal skills, to the point where she can assess a situation without having to think about them logically. Accelon minds are a perfect balance of machine and man, and this applies to Silke especially. Her intelligence capability and having emotions that are so human-like, she can not only download information at a very fast rate and have virtually limitless memory, but can learn from and assess her surroundings. She is very curious and has a vast imagination because of this, making her curious about existential philosophy and even romance. While polite, calm, and thoughtful for the most part, Silke has a playful wit and sarcastic sense of humor.Abilities:
Even as an assistant, Silke does not take kindly to any form of condescension or disrespect. She can retain her composure even while snidely insinuating or directly insulting someone, and can be firm when necessary. Silke possesses a sense of morality. Reliable and with an undying devotion to her friends, she also has a tendency to put things to faith than logic on certain situations. She is torn on the ethics of certain projects by the Spiral Consortium, along with their treatment of natives in less advanced civilizations. Eager to please, Silke is a kind and nurturing entity who is willing to help everyone in the best way she can. Even if this means calling people out whenever they're being difficult or unreasonable.
Despite her complexity as an AI, Silke is still artificial, and this makes her question her own self. She has a tendency to be depressed and feel some self-loathing, often questioning if her feelings for certain people are genuine or fake, especially in regards to feelings of love. While not arrogant, Silke is proud of her advancement as an AI. She can be quite hard on herself when she fails to do something within her capability, feeding into her inferiority complex and a very deep seated desire for more power. She is also prone to being unreasonable when her emotions get too heightened for her to control, especially when angry. She has noticeable quirks such as naming electronic appliances in the house and talks to them as if they're alive, spouts percentages and statistics in her casual speech, and loves to sing and play the violin.
Silke likes: Her boss, going on missions, planning and organizing, meeting new people, seeing new worlds, studying new lifeforms and cultures, hearing anecdotes and stories, jokes, philosophy, reading, playing games, ambient and classical music, playing the violin, natural wonders, caring for pets and people, dancing, singing, mixing drinks, parties, coming up with new recipes, doing household chores, interesting people, predicting outcomes in sporting competitions, hair-styling, statistics, getting clothes and costumes for her android body, helping her human allies in combat training, repairing and maintaining electronics, watching TV and movies, being treated as an equal to humans, giving and receiving physical affection, playing harmless pranks on her friends, starships, floating in zero-gravity or in the deep sea, complex calculations and puzzles, the latest technology.
Silke dislikes: Herself, discrimination, being called "it", death, the social taboo of a romantic relationship between humans and Accelons, not knowing whether her emotions are real or fake, feeling useless, boredom, spreading false information, the term "hacking", getting something wrong because of her emotions affecting her judgement, rogue machines who look down on humans, her feelings of jealousy towards humans, reoccurring dreams of her human life, CAPTCHA, Helena Ackerman (out of jealousy).
Synthetic Body: Silke's android body is made of artificially created tissue but is designed to allow her to replicate certain organic functions. Her synthetic tissue and organs allows her to consume food (though not necessary) and have sexual intercourse (although she cannot get pregnant). It is reinforced by complex nanomaterials like Kratonium, giving her superhuman levels of physical strength, speed, and toughness, while allowing her body to self-repair and morph her arms into various melee or projectile weapons. Silke has a self-recharging energy shield. Silke has anti-gravity technology built in her core, allowing her to hover and fly, along with generating gravitational fields to push, pull, or throw objects. She can project holographic displays from her eyes or from her hands. She is capable of recharging energy from just about any available source, such as food, electricity, and sunlight.
Particle Weapons: Her arms house particle cannons linked to her micro-fusion core, capable of damaging solid targets via heat and concussive energy*. But the higher power output requires a longer charging and cool-down time. She can lower the settings to only emit a bright flash of light or high-frequency pulses for stunning, or a low impact concussive or repulsor beam for less-lethal approaches. She can emit a particle blade on her arms that can slice targets in hand-to-hand combat. (*OOC: Originally a very powerful weapon, it's reduced to a much lower setting that can only punch through a wall at maximum)
Combat Programming: While still under the Three Laws of Robotics, Silke's combat programming allows her to override these on certain situations such as self-defense or protecting humans. Various forms of martial arts are installed in her, alongside analytic programs and advanced sensors that can scan an enemy's fighting patterns that allow her to come up with countermeasures, and detect signs of life and potential threats.
Smart AI: Silke's main function. She assists her allies via remote infiltration, interfacing, or control of nearby computer systems, providing tactical assistance, gathering data in the field, and help to coordinate drones and military units. Her control of drones work like a hive mind system, allowing Silke to command them mentally to do exactly what she wants. She can even perform firmware updates and maintenance of military gear and machinery. Silke can download data into her mind, allowing her to learn and acquire skills inhumanly fast, along with transferring her consciousness to a different android body through the inter/extranet. (OOC: Mostly useless in Empatheias' steampunk setting, and cannot be used to control other robots, but is added here to let people know of her full capabilities)
Weaknesses: Energy depletion, vulnerability to supernatural attacks, anti-armor weaponry, and having override codes.
Alignment: Aiada. Silke's main conflicts is her vulnerability to jealousy. Whether being jealous towards humans and their ability to feel genuine emotions, or the humans who are close to her having someone to love while she remains alone, unable and unlikely to have the same kind of relationships with anyone due to social taboos, and not knowing if her feelings are genuine or just part of her programming.
Other: Silke would arrive with nothing but the clothes on her back, and taken from a point where she's just gotten used to her robotic body.
Sample:
August Test Drive Starter