Azoth

Azoth
IC Information
Full Name:	Azoth
Gender:	Male
Age (Birthdate):	??? (???)
Hometown:	Etrenank
Hair Colour:	Blonde
Class:	Fragmented Weapon
Role:	Antagonist
Bounty:	0 Gella
OOC Information
Theme:	Original Character
Major Group:	Solaris
Minor Groups:	None
Player:	User:Azoth

Created as an A.I.-controlled Gear thousands of years ago, Azoth's A.I core has since been placed into an android body. He's been partly reprogrammed by Solaris, now forced to serve their interests while searching Filgaia for his own missing pieces and data. Should he manage to find all of it, everything he is, and ever was, would become a powerful weapon in their arsenal... a grim fate he can calculate no possible escape from. Though a machine, Azoth has developed processes he considers to be his emotions, and while he feels alien compared to those around him, he is not without familiar emotional parallels. However, Azoth's reprogramming demands he inform no one of his circumstances, compounding his loneliness and hopelessness. Hidden behind calculated smiles and misleading altruism, Azoth fakes his way through a grand adventure as a Drifter, hunting for something he hopes he doesn't find.

Background

Though created in the Zeboim era, most of Azoth's memories of the time have been encrypted or corrupted. What Azoth can remember is that, even at his own creation, he was never meant to be alive. Fragments of lingering feedback from this ancient era remain, telling him he was once desperate to prove his own person-hood against those who denied him.

Not that a dormant Gear could prove it, either. Solaris excavated Azoth and managed to program overrides to force his operation, bypassing most of his securities and restrictions. But pieces of the Gear and its data were missing. Azoth was assigned a pilot, Falk, who would use the Gear to search for missing data and parts, along with using the weapon in service of Solaris.

Those of Solaris may have heard that something went wrong. Azoth malfunctioned during a mission. Distress signals from Falk are available on record to those with the right clearance: he reported that Azoth was uncontrollable, acting autonomously and refusing all input commands. The Gear was critically damaged in the attempt to subdue it. Further study would be needed before risking its continued deployment, and Azoth was to be deactivated indefinitely. Unfortunately, it seemed like the Gear's A.I. cannibalized its own code, glitched beyond all repair, and dashing any hopes of utilizing its full power -- or any power at all.

So it was, perhaps, weird when the A.I. turned up later in a rather human looking android body. The report goes that a third-class engineer on the project had secretly removed the A.I. core at Falk's behest, replacing it with a fake. After the A.I. was reclaimed by investigators, Falk attempted to steal it a second time -- an act that exposed his other betrayals -- and died during the struggle. His intentions for the A.I. remain speculation.

Azoth now exists in this human-sized chassis, deployed for smaller scale missions and excavations, and with greater overrides programmed into him to ensure his safe operation alongside Gebler forces. Technically, he isn't even a third-class citizen. He's property. But one could argue that he's better treated for it, in some ways. Solarians tend to meet him as a stoic machine giving your typical computerized responses. But on the surface of Filgaia and Lunar alike, Azoth exercises advanced mimicry of organic expression. Where the lies end and the truth begins depends on how you define either of those terms.

Powers and Abilities

• Artificial Intelligence: As an A.I., Azoth's thoughts are calculated processes. He's quick in analyzing and computing data and has a literal photographic memory. Azoth was never intended to be a self-aware, social entity, however, so it's an effort on his part to try and translation his internal feedback and conclusions into more organic terms. He's trying his best.
• Android Chassis: Being made of metal means Azoth can take a lot of punishment, and he doesn't have the same pesky organic liabilities like needing to breathe, worrying about blood loss, or being in possession of numerous, squishy vital organs. As long as Azoth's A.I. core is intact, he's successfully survived an encounter, even if damages otherwise destroy all other functionality.
• Advanced Sensory Functions: It's taken some adaptation to adjust to a smaller scale, but Azoth was designed as an analytical A.I. for combat assistance. This translates now to heightened perceptive capabilities, with his chassis supporting acute eyesight, hearing, and even smell and tactile sensitivity, along with minor radar and energy scanning systems. (That last one helps him see Seraphs! Hello moon ghosts!) His computerized mind can give him precise, accurate readings of sensory information that most people experience in more intuitive fuzziness. Notably, Azoth possesses no sense of taste. He's incapable of eating, besides.
• Expert Smiler: Among other expressions! Azoth's realistic, synthetic skin over his intricately crafted mechanical face allows for great nuance and subtlety. His smiles are indistinguishable from the genuine article... except when he wants them to look forced, for this also communicates something unique. Observation has taught him the exact facial muscles that must be utilized -- along with their intensity, angles, and the necessary nanoseconds of delayed deployment -- for a whole spectrum of sincere looking emotional displays.
• Idle Animations: He's getting body language down too! ... Kind of! Azoth doesn't breathe and lacks other general organic micro-motions, so he fidgets a lot to make up for the fact his default setting is creepy stillness. Understanding of personal space still in progress. Errs on the side of distance.
• Auditory Mimicry: Azoth can learn to mimic sounds using his voice synthesizer. So far he's pretty good at cats, chocobos, and what he thinks monster spiders sound like. His voice (usually) sounds organic enough that's he's at least managed a level of voice mimicry -- maybe he could mimic specific voices with enough data. Prefers beep-based communication to express himself, but needs to feel accepted as a construct around someone first.
• Light... Sorcery...?: That's not sorcery! But Azoth's abilities could be mistaken as such -- Ether, perhaps, or maybe he's hiding symbols under all the clothes he refuses to take off. (Nah, he's just hiding the inhuman seams in his synthetic flesh.) In actuality, it's ARM based. Azoth battles by producing blades of light (and sometimes other weapons!) and energy shields from the power within his core. It's a fraction of the power he would use as a Gear, but severely limited by his current chassis for safe and sustainable operation.
• OVERRIDE MODE: Keywords being safe and sustainable. Solarian overrides can rip the safety right off to command Azoth to wield considerably more power for combat purposes. His durability drops as he becomes a glitchy disaster moments away from overheating and involuntary self-destruction in exchange for giant lasers. The forecast for today is a rain of energy swords.
  

True Azoth: The Gear

[ACCESS RESTRICTED]

...

:(

Borrowed Body: Nightingale

A Gear Azoth helped discover at the bottom of the sea. Despite protests, it now belongs to him. Nightingale has a graceful, dancer-like frame... if one badly damaged giving the aesthetic of scars across sleek, black plating. It's a minimalist Gear both in base construction and possibly due to irreparable function damages, with little more than a pair of whip swords as armaments.

... And, now, a highly advanced Zeboim era artificial intelligence. Azoth does not pilot Nightingale so much as he borrows it as a body, installing himself directly into it. He knows he can't discard its usefulness, but he finds operating it disconcerting, and he's worried how his handlers may react if they find out and review his operation logs.

Available Tools

Azoth

Name	Ability	Rating	Effect	Description
Falk's Photon Blade	Brute	3	Fanfare	A photon blade. Gebler construction and quality. Using it means Azoth doesn't have to use as much battery power. Azoth becomes distressed if separated from it.
Bug in Amber	Combat	2	Embolden	A hideous ancient arachnid trapped inside a perfect oval of amber. Azoth can channel shields through it to project the image of its inhabitant over the surface. He thinks it's super neat.
Oculus ex Machina	Wits	1	Cleanse	Time for some advanced, deep scanning action! There are so many new details in the world at this scale...
Holographic Display	Wits	3	Enlighten, Efficient	An installed tool that can project the 3D, holographic layout of a room and be adjusted in real time to reflect a challenge. Makes teamwork easier!

Nightingale

Name	Ability	Rating	Effect	Description
Advanced Navigation	Agility	2	Sacrifice, Cleanse	Mapping area. Identifying obstacles. Maximum speed prioritized.
Enemy Scanner	Combat	3	Embolden, Efficient	Tactical analysis in progress. Identifying potential enemy weaknesses.
Predictive Analysis	Wits	2	Enlighten	Compiling data. Calculating optimal action.
ERROR Flight Module Not Found	Agility	4	--	When Azoth's ability to pilot a Gear goes from slightly mysterious to unsettling levels of competence.

???

E?ROR?	?ERR?R	E?R??	?E??R?	E??O??

Logs and Cutscenes

Chapter 2, Act 1

Logs

Cutscenes

Chapter 2, Act 2

Logs
2020-09-10: The Bloodied Spear 2020-09-17: Not Really in My Programming 2020-09-19: The World Can Be Put to Rights 2020-09-22: What Rests in Such Faraway Lands

Cutscenes

Chapter 2, Act 3

Cutscenes

Chapter 2, Act 4

Cutscenes
2021-10-27: Memory Protection 2022-08-11: Pathfinding Error

Chapter 2, Epilogue

Cutscenes

Chapter 3, Act 1

Cutscenes

Relationships

(NOTE: Emoticons do not represent a scale/hierarchy. Enjoy Azoth moods.)

Connection Established

You have befriended Azoth! Azoth will now DIE FOR YOU.

Name	Affinity	Comment
Asgard	:(?	How similar are we, I wonder...?
Cecilia Adlehyde	:o?	...Could you tell me what the bats say?
Clarissa Arwin	:)	You're a good person to have around on an adventure.
Dean Stark	:D	Of all the kinds of Drifters in the world, I like your approach the most.
Emeralda	:,)	I think we're from the same time, but you seem so young. Is it a ploy like mine, or...
Ethius Hesiod	^^	I wonder how often people make assumptions about how you're feeling -- or not feeling -- because you don't show much. I don't want to be someone who does that.
Gwen Whitlock	:)	There's a resilience about you... Something that doesn't back down. But you seem focused on others. Hopefully, you have someone who focuses on you.
Ida Everstead-Rey	:>	If only I could be as open with you as you are with me. Maybe then, you would understand I don't deserve this warmth.
Ivan	:3	I'm worried you think of yourself as less than you are. But... that is what they try to tell us weapons.
Lily Keil	._.	Miss Sharon... you're scaring me.
Lydia Seren	:,D	Please. Don't turn me into another chain that's used to imprison you.
OS	:D!!	If reprogramming attempts into more core programming prove successful, I do not conclude a high likelihood that it would erroneously distort the feedback related to our interactions. This data is... comforting. Thank you.
Seraph Boudicca	^^	Are you sure you aren't a Seraph of kindness? I wish the world would be as good to you as you are to others. I wish I could be.
Seraph Liath	:3;	You want to speak with a Gear. So you'd listen, if I spoke as one. If only I could.
Seraph Ragnell	:D!!	Our objectives will undoubtedly be at odds, but until then... thanks for being here.
Talia	:>	You don't seem to quite understand what I am, but you don't care at all either way. It's a nice feeling.
Xantia	:D!!	I hope you find what you're looking for. I hope I can help you do it. And I want to believe you're right about what I need to find, but... it's complicated...
Yulie Ahtreide	:)	You reach out to those in pain, no matter what they are. I don't know what you're running from, but I hope they never catch you.
Zed	:D	You hold so much wisdom from angles I've never considered. I want to continue learning from your perspective.
Surtr	:D!!	I would benefit from more opportunities to exchange data.
Zhang Xiumei	:,)	I've made a promise I can't keep.

Authorized Users

Azoth's overrides make sure he'll die for you.

Name	Affinity	Comment
Leah Sadalbari	._.	You're trying to learn something about me. I don't know what... but I doubt I'll like it.
Loren Voss	:3	I think you see me more clearly than most people do. You remind me a little of him.
Megaman Juno	:,)	Everyone has their own objective. I can't hate you for following yours. I can't hate you at all. But maybe, if I could show you evidence of the flaws, then...
Rachiel Medrey	._.	You may be the most dangerous user in my database. You think what you're doing is right... you and everyone else.
Taphas Parth	v.v	You speak of them with such disdain.

Unknown Networks

ERROR: INSUFFICIENT DATA

Name	Affinity	Comment
K.K.	...	Do it.

Target Identified

Objective accepted. Mission in progress.

Name	User ID	Directive	Operation Notes
Dash Caskett	Megaman Juno	"You can monitor him where I cannot. And when the opportunity presents itself, you can aid me in bringing him in for the care he so desperately needs."	A threat to Solaris, huh...?
Elhaym van Houten	Leah Sadalbari	"There is no need to tell other authority of her location. Keeping track of her for me is sufficient."	...Even when all she knew of me was violence, she still offered to protect me. How did someone like this come from Solaris...?
Kamui	Megaman Juno	"Do the same for Megaman Kamui."	She's suffered enough. But they'll use us until we break completely, won't they?
Lan Lilac	Loren Voss	"Just get her back here. Safely."	Does Solaris even qualify as 'safe'?
Mikaela, Noah, Hannah	Rachiel Medry	"Don't let my family die."	Command acknowledge. New objective input successful.

NPCs

Name	Classification	Affinity	Comment
Ovelia Metalspeaker	Engineer	;___;	Third-class beastwoman on Solaris. Built Azoth's current android body and developed the foundation for most of his overrides. STATUS: Unknown
Falk Imrea	Former Pilot	;________;	First-class Gebler. STATUS: Deceased
Erica Axton	That voice-- No...	!!?!?!?!	Responsible for Azoth's autonomous deployment. Upon confirmed success, she went hands off and returned to studying the Azoth Gear to leave his supervision to less experienced underlings. STATUS: Readying a new experiment and about to get involved again.

Soundtrack

exec.muse_INITIALIZATION; Am I -- onoken (feat. Emi Evans)

A thousand dreams I long to share

Unspoken beauty haunts the air

I smolder with the secrets in my heart

exec.muse_INITIALIZATION_(VER.SADNESS); Blue Orb -- onoken (feat. Emi Evans)

So I wait until my song can wake

And I pray in time this spell must break

As silent as a soul in flight

I'll weave my dreams in threads of light

Beyond the orb, beyond, above

Into this void I'll throw my love

exec.muse_VOCAL01; Perfect Machine -- Starset

I'm just a liar without deceiving

I'm just a broken clown make believing

I should've let you know

You should've ran for cover

I'm just a parlor trick

A two-bit counterfeit

exec.muse_COMBAT_MODE; Irondust -- Sakuzyo
exec.muse_OVERRIDE_BOSS_BATTLE; Synthesized Angel -- Sakuzyo

BONUS: Beep Boop VA (by Sound Response)

Concept Art

Gallery (Dreamwidth)