Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
Tempus Rimeblood
Sep 23, 2007

...Friendship? Again?
AVIRA (Autonomous Viral Isolation and Reclamation Agent), the Chosen

Musical Accompaniment courtesy of Lead Researcher Dr. Gordon Markov

My name is Avira. To know me is to know the Virus.



The virus, originally a project codenamed "PROTEUS" by researchers in a secret FEMA/CDC thinktank, was designed to be a cure for autoimmune disorders. It would regrow damaged and infected tissues, repair failing organs, solve any problem you could think of. It was a dream, something still being worked on with spare funding and researchers thought too eccentric for modern science.

Until, of course, it was stolen. The project known as PROTEUS disappeared from a secure vault in a highly classified location. It was about three months later that the attacks began. Bioterrorism. Mutants, victims of a modified PROTEUS, roamed the streets of Riyadh, Mumbai, Munich...no place was safe from whoever controlled PROTEUS. What was worse, is that the virus spread. It formed hives, incubated itself. There was some kind of hive mind powering it all, coordinating these PROTEUS attacks and the spread of mutation.

A task force was formed, containing the original PROTEUS researchers, to create a way to stop it. Many brave soldiers and special forces operators gave their lives in the fight to reclaim the city of Buenos Aires and destroy the first PROTEUS Hive, designation "CRECHE-1." It was in their sacrifice, in the lessons learned from that battle, that my line, my...ancestors, were born.

First among them was MORGAN - Mechanical Organism for Reclamation, Guardianship, Assault, and Neutralization. She was a massive success, having only been taken out of combat duty to instruct the new recruits of Task Force: ARISTAEUS on methods to contain and combat PROTEUS Hives.

But PROTEUS mutated, or, as would later be found out, was altered. Whoever controlled PROTEUS was learning from their defeats. It became more potent, inducing mutation faster and more catastrophically. Gone were the cancer-esque tumors and organ failure - people were becoming crazed monsters, attacking their fellow man to spread the virus and obeying nothing but the orders of the PROTEUS Hivemind. The shadow war between ARISTAEUS and PROTEUS continued for twelve years, until finally, what seemed like a decisive defeat occurred.

The man behind the theft of PROTEUS, an American news magnate by the name of Robert Mulholland, was captured and executed in a targeted raid by Task Force ARISTAEUS. As it turns out, Mulholland's agenda was to use the PROTEUS virus to discredit American leadership and turn the United States into a puppet dictatorship led by him, using PROTEUS to keep the populace in line with his whims.

Unfortunately for Task Force ARISTAEUS, PROTEUS had advanced further than they realized. Mulholland himself was a puppet, his brain having long since been subsumed by the virus.

Three years after the last reported PROTEUS outbreak, the city of Sydney, Australia was hit with the largest PROTEUS strike yet. No more could the governments of the world hide the existence of PROTEUS. States of emergency were declared, the viral outbreak was claimed to be an isolated instance and contained, and Task Force ARISTAEUS went public.

Meanwhile, in a formerly-shuttered FEMA/CDC thinktank, construction began on a new project. A replacement for M.O.R.G.A.N - a more capable AI, better fuzzy logic performance and enhanced armament, combined with the knowledge and adaptability to battle an ever-changing bioweapon bent on subsuming the world one chunk at a time.

And so, I was born. Avira. The Autonomous Viral Isolation and Reclamation Agent. I appear more human than my sister, but it's no cakewalk for me - in fact, I would argue that I'm less human than she. I know how to tear apart any mutant form created by PROTEUS or whatever is controlling it, but I can't even figure out how to talk to people in a normal context outside of basic conversational routines.

I tried to make a purchase at a convenience store a few months ago. As it happens, they sell neither 5.56mm full metal jacket ammunition or Class III sedatives. The convenience store clerk had to be paid for his silence by the thinktank, and I was thoroughly chastised. It was at MORGAN's decision that I be sent here to learn to socialize. Her knowledge of its existence is expected - after all, it was her creation that gained the school a significant amount of funding.

Now, I attend this school, trying to learn to socialize. The thinktank wants me to be the face of the anti-PROTEUS initiative - to fight the virus while winning the public over to our side. I don't even know who the public ARE. All these students at the school scare me - they're possible infection vectors, and they give me strange looks in the halls. One even whistled at me - I didn't know what to do, it wasn't any standard battle chatter I'd heard, so I panicked and ran into the bathroom.

The viral apocalypse, I can get through. But please, God, if one exists, let me make it through gym class today.

Setting Detail: Renault-Valley Memorial Hospital

Named in honor of the great neuroscientist Jacques Renault-Valley, RVMH is one of the premier hospitals in the world. And unbeknownst to everyone, it houses repair bays for any form of cyborg, android, replicant, or AI you can think of on its 13th floor. If it's broken, Renault-Valley Memorial Hospital can fix it. After all, what else would be a fitting tribute to the first completely artificial human being to win the Nobel Prize?


Related NPC: Morgan McAfee, The Original Anti-Virus


My big sister is amazing. She's a worldwide hero - or, she would be, if anyone knew she existed. She destroyed CRECHE-2 singlehandedly, fought the first recorded Kaiju-class PROTEUS mutant off the coast of Madagascar, AND Task Force ARISTAEUS wouldn't have gotten anything done without her! And now, she sits at home a lot. She was re-commissioned before my birth, when Sydney was attacked. But now she's back off-duty, working in a tattoo shop where they all just think she's a really rich body-modder, and I think she's happier that way. She says she's tired of the horror and the nastiness that is fighting PROTEUS. I haven't been at this long, but...I already kind of agree with her. Maybe when this is all over, I can settle down too. Maybe I could even be normal enough to look at people? Morgan says it might happen.

Skin-Related NPC (The Enemy): The Transylvanian


The Transylvanian is a terrifying guy. Girl. Thing. No one knows what it is, really - it used to be human, and it had something to do with the theft of PROTEUS. But more than that, only it knows, and it's not telling. Now it's a monster - it takes whatever shape it wants to take, and it discarded its humanity a long time ago in favor of being a living, ambulatory PROTEUS Hive that can be anywhere at any time. The worst part? It has a grudge against my family - MORGAN ripped it a new one a few years back at the battle for CRECHE-5, and they crossed paths again in Sydney. I've run into it once, and it almost killed me. I spent a long time at Renault-Valley Memorial before the school year because of it. But it said something to me before the explosion and its disappearance. It said "I know your sister. And I know you. And soon, you'll be out of my way and I can give my gifts to the world." It's terrifying. But I have to face it. Not even Morgan's strong enough to take this one. It has to be me. The world depends on it.

pre:
Look: Strong, radiant eyes
Origin: Built For This Purpose (Destined)

Stats: Hot +1, Cold -1, Volatile +2, Dark -1

Moves: 
Collateral Damage Mitigation Protocols (Growing Pains):
When you fail to defend your friends
as designated by your IFF and independent 
decision-making systems, mark experience.

Individual-Mounted Defense Systems (Come Prepared): 
You have an outlandishly large armory, complete with
obsolescent defense platforms, in case of Emergency Protocol
Delta-6 or similar occurrences.

Physical Intimacy Protocols:
When your frame is in a physically intimate position with
another being, activate all regenerative protocols and perform
a full system reboot. (Heal all Harm and remove all Conditions.)
If you experience "disgust" at the other being, give them a String.
If you experience the emotional protocol known as "disgust" toward
yourself, give them a String and notify CENTCOM immediately.

PROTOCOL BSOD-Ex00000000 (Darkest Self):
Seek out largest threat available within immediate area.  Do not
request backup, doing so is a violation of CDMP.  Deal with all threats
proactively in the manner referred to as "headfirst" in your programming,
with no regard to structural integrity.  Only exit this protocol
when backup arrives, or when being repaired in designated facilities.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Tempus Rimeblood
Sep 23, 2007

...Friendship? Again?

K Prime posted:

AVIRA, are you getting any help with your conversational parameters? If so, what are you focusing on first? Small talk? Romance?

OOC: A lot of talk about PROTEUS and not enough about AVIRA!

I am getting a lot of help with conversational parameters, yeah! I wasn't equipped with a lot of conversational subroutines, just battle chatter and mission briefings and such. But thanks to Morgan, I started getting the basics. It's not easy, learning how to talk about things that aren't systematically eliminating a sentient bioweapon from the face of the earth.

I mean, I couldn't even order food at restaurants! I didn't understand the concept! But now I do. I've been focusing a lot on small-talk, I can't really focus on romance just yet because I can't actually understand people or their motivations. Like, I can talk to you about the weather, or local sports teams, or whatever strikes your fancy, but not in too much depth before I start running out of knowing what to say. Really, the only stuff I can discuss in detail still is military strategy. But that's okay - Morgan took me to a gaming store one time and I had a really enlightening conversation with some guys playing a tactical warfare simulation on a tabletop! He wouldn't stop staring at my chest, though, and Morgan eventually had to ask him to go away when he started getting "creepy."

I'm not so good at picking up on stuff like that, I guess. Maybe that's why I don't really understand nuanced discussions and things with emotional attachment - I mean, I'm supposed to HAVE emotions. I just don't know how to deal with them yet because they haven't been an issue so far.

So there's that. I'd like to learn more, but that's what this school is for! And my sister is a proud alumnus, and she's pretty socially adept, so that ought to work out just great!

Tempus Rimeblood
Sep 23, 2007

...Friendship? Again?

K Prime posted:



Today's first exercise will be to take one of the following prompts and respond to it. The prompts are based on real interpersonal issues posted by humans to the datasphere. Please respond honestly, and remember. I am here to help you.

9. My BF(25M) can't have sex with me(24M) without picturing me as a sexbot!


I feel that this could be a...serious issue. I am not an expert on physical intimacy, but I am told that it is important that one appreciates their partner for who they are. It does not do well for the psyche to delude oneself into acts of physical intimacy. Perhaps it is best that the two of you part ways - clearly, he is sexually incompatible, and therefore not worth keeping around. Continuing to enable his fantasy will only drive distance between the two of you. Perhaps discuss why he feels the way he does, in addition to this. Also, my sister Morgan has said some things about "role-play" during acts of physical intimacy. Perhaps discuss this with him as well, in order to possibly reach a compromise that will prove mutually beneficial to both of you, should the option of separating not be to your liking?

  • Locked thread