serialmurderbot

OOC Permissions:
Backtagging: Fine with it! I aim to wrap all my threads though so I may nudge things towards a conclusion eventually.
Fourth Wall Breaks: No thank you.
Threadhopping: If public, it's fair game.
OOC topics to avoid: I appreciate warnings about dental horror and explicit gore. 

IC Permissions:
Touching: Disliked, allowed in certain circumstances. OOCly I'm fine with it happening but there may be IC negative reactions.
Romance: Uninterested. (IC and OOC)
Sexual content: Extra Uninterested!
Physical Violence: Possible to probable, depending on circumstances.
Injury and Death: First is fine, may need some discussion. Character death must happen with prior discussion.
Mind-reading/Empaths: Give me a heads-up that it's happening.


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Murderbot as a character deals with a couple themes that folks may want to control their interactions with, so I've listed them out below! If you have questions or would like to talk things over with me, please feel free to reach out here or in DM! 

- Gender identity. Murderbot is referred to in canon with 'it' pronouns, as it considers itself non-human, and dislikes human gender. It is insistent on this topic, and any IC discussion of the topic will be shut down.

I'd prefer not to play out scenarios focused on misgendering with Murderbot. I'm happy to play with other characters dealing with confusion over who or what it is, as SecUnits and cyborg constructs like it are pretty scifi and may not have parallels in a lot of canons! Also feel free for your character to key into something in Murderbot's presentation that makes them unsure of how to address it. But I'd like to keep the focus of RP away from explaining its gender or lack thereof, and more on the broader themes of construct versus human.

Slavery and systematized depersonalization. Murderbot's canon deals with the subjects of depersonalization on both a societal and a personal level. Canonically Murderbot is considered to be a thing, not a person, and is treated as a dangerous weapon by basically everyone from the Corporation Rim. Additionally, it's forced to endure inhumane conditions, particularly in the form of a governor module that is responsible for punishing it when it does or thinks the wrong thing, up to the point of killing it for violating directives. This is no longer a threat it has to face, but it shapes a lot of its reactions to other people, and is a topic that will inevitably come up when discussing its backstory.

Additionally, it often interacts with broader systems of oppression. In the Murderbot Diaries, corporate indenture and slavery is common. Seed populations for new colonies are often sent off to hostile and un-terraformed planets without much say in the matter, and left to die. Many mining outposts are run on the company town model, or require food, medical treatment, etc. to be paid for in a system that essentially introduces generational slavery through debt. While Murderbot is aware of how fucked up these systems are, but they are a reality in its experience and may come up because of it.

Casual violence. I don't tend to lean into the gore, but MB gets injured regularly, and can deal more readily with things like losing limbs, etc., than the average human. It is also casually comfortable with committing acts of violence against its opponents, particularly in circumstances where it's protecting the people it cares about.

Player: Ptero
Contact: needslineface , this journal
Age: 18+
Other Characters: N/A

Name: Murderbot/SecUnit
Canon: The Murderbot Diaries
Canon Point: End of System Collapse
Age: Unspecified Adult

Backstory: This wiki has a pretty good book-by-book summary.
Personality: In a word? Depressed. In two: Deeply idiosyncratic.

Murderbot's name is a good introduction to everything about it. It calls itself Murderbot - but it also considers that name deeply private, and won't share it unless forced to, because it knows exactly how that sounds to humans who expect a rogue SecUnit to try to kill everyone around it. Instead it prefers to be called SecUnit, if it must be - a name that's also its function.

SecUnits are weapons, both in public opinion and in some jurisdictions legally, and Murderbot spends a lot of time living with the fear and mistrust that causes in the people. Being rogue is worse, because most people expect a rogue SecUnit to go on a killing rampage. It's been attacked, multiple times, by people it's trying to protect, both when it was Company property and when it was protecting people of its own volition. That's left it with a lot of issues, to put it lightly. It expects to be treated as disposable, even by people who it knows care about it, and it has trouble relating to most people - it has a deeply-rooted discomfort with being looked at, or with looking people in the eyes, preferring to rely on security and drone cameras to observe the world around it. It dislikes "acting human," though it's made concessions on that front, in adopting "human" tics like unconscious movement. It also deeply dislikes a lot of human bodily functions, in part because of visceral disgust and in part because being part of a surveillance system means it watched way too many humans doing private things.

After a lifetime of mistreatment at the hands of both its owners and the clients of those owners, one might expect Murderbot to hold a grudge against either those people, or all of humanity. One might even expect it to, well, murder. But Murderbot has a deeprooted compulsion to protect people, and a desire to save the people under its care - even the ones who mistreat it, but especially the ones it's chosen as its clients. It cares about people, and it's hurt when it's unable to save them, especially when it can't do it for stupid reasons like Company regulations. The worst part for it is that, when given the chance, it can be good at its job. It finds deep satisfaction in helping people without having to make things a bloody confrontation - it's just so rarely given that opportunity.

The exception to that, the thing that truly makes it angry is hurting its clients, and its friends. When it thought ART had been deleted permanently, it expressed that grief by resolving to hunt down the people it thought had done so, and killing them in a particularly violent fashion. When one of its first chosen clients was shot, it killed the woman responsible almost immediately, without room for negotiation. And when rescuing the first person who recognized it as a person, it found great satisfaction in the idea of tearing some of its agents apart in order to "win" - and abandoned that idea only when it was forced to confront the truth that it couldn't win, being outmatched in firepower.

The discrepancy, piled on top of a lifetime of being treated as a dangerous tool, have left it with a lot of issues. It has a habit of putting the physical wellbeing of others before its own, and struggles to process or admit to its own emotions beyond anger. Sometimes, when completely overwhelmed, it will fall into a state of anhedonia, or a "wave of I-don't-care," in Murderbot parlance. It's also only just beginning to realize and process its own trauma, and how being a bot-human construct affects that. After a kidnapping and traumatic alien contamination event, its realized just how valuable it is to the people around it, but it's also starting to suffer from PTSD and flashbacks that are impacting how capable it feels of doing its job in high-stakes situations.

SecUnit - Murderbot - has a decidedly developed personality. When it hacked its governor module so it couldn't be ordered to kill, it didn't go rogue and escape. Instead, it started watching entertainment feeds. It developed a taste in the 'satisfyingly unrealistic' kind of media, and gets deeply invested in its favorite programs. This developed into a taste for all kinds of media, from documentaries to music to books. This is also slowly developing for a fondness for the craft of creating narratives - it's had occasion before to edit its own digital archive into a narrative form, and most recently made an ad-hoc documentary to help keep a planet from corporate indenture. It's balancing a future home on Preservation where there are people who care for it but not a job for it to do, with helping its friend ART's crew, who are strangers but who do anti-corporate work that it might find deeply fulfilling.

It's also a smartass, and deeply sarcastic, when with friends and in internal monologue. It likes to win - be that arguments or fights. It's stubborn and prone to holding grudges. On the outside, its affect is often abrupt, quiet, and antisocial, but due to its augmentations it's almost always giving some consideration to the people around it, even if it doesn't look like it from an outsider's perspective.

Powers/Abilities:

- Cybernetic memory: as a construct SecUnit has cybernetic components to its brain - it stores a lot of its core memories on there, to the point where damage to those parts leaves it with amnesia comparable to a Traumatic brain injury. But also it uses its brain storage to keep all its favorite media.

- Arm guns! SecUnit has energy weapons built into its forearms. These are capable of stunning/killing an unarmored target and damaging equipment but are not high-powered weapons.

- Onboard power systems: while not explicitly defined in canon, the Murderbot has some form of onboard power systems that maintain energy for its weapons and other technological components. It occasionally needs to shut down and going into recharge cycles, and it can't regenerate biomass on its own, but it would take at minimum years for its power to run out on its own. As such, it doesn't need to physically eat, and in fact doesn't have a stomach.

Other canon abilities that will not be carried over;

- Physical cybernetic enhancements; because of its nature as a construct, Murderbot's processing speed and reaction time are heightened compared to the average humans. It's able to perform physical feats that most humans would struggle to do, and often launches itself off of walls and uses bursts of speed to get one over on its opponents. For the purposes of the game it'll still be agile but not faster than other humans.

- Ability to turn off pain sensors; Murderbot can turn down or otherwise ignore pain, though it will often still feel things affecting the injuries, and turning off the pain won't prevent the effects of debilitating injuries, if a joint is damaged, etc.

- Cybernetic limiters (deactivated); Murderbot has a device called a governor module in its brain and a dataport at the back of its neck designed to help in the process of keeping it from going rogue - both are currently inactive, but the tech still remains.

- Multi-thread processing; It has an above-average ability to multitask, monitoring camera feeds, comm lines, and active combat situations simultaneously - despite that, it can't be everywhere at once, and occasionally has to backburner conversations. Sometimes that results in it responding to questions with a stock buffer phrase that sounds extremely artifiical compared to its usual demeanor.

- Reduced need for oxygen; Modified lungs mean that it survives much better than the average human in low-oxygen environments!

-Network capability; SecUnit is usually able to wirelessly connect to any networks around it, as well as maintain connection with its own drones, as well as helmet cameras, comms, and other devices, which it often ends up using to hack in to systems it wants access to. This will be cut off in game!

Skills;
- Coding/hacking; Being a part of a security system before it went rogue, SecUnit knows a lot about system security and coding - and after going rogue, it's learned a lot about breaking into those. it's done everything from writing simple movement loops for bots to creating killware based on its own kernel (with the help of a friend). It has done so on the fly, but prefers to plan code in advance instead of doing so in a high-pressure situation when it's got more inputs to handle.

- Security/fighting; It has both practical experience in Security and education modules on the subject, and as such is used to evaluating all manner of situations for their weak points! It's also got plenty of experience fighting both other security constructs, as well as dangerous wildlife. It's really good at its job.

- Media; It's good at editing together footage to create a narrative! It's done so several times throughout the series, to explain its own perspective on things when it doesn't want to use words to do it, and to make a full documentary with support from its team at the time. It's also had a long time to develop its tastes in media, though it's voracious about trying everything.

Inventory: One casual outfit - hooded jacket, heavy boots, pants and shirt, all in unremarkable dark colors. It also has a single small security drone with it, only large enough for a camera and a Feed connection. 

Game Plans:

Initially, SecUnit is going to be suspicious - it just lived through one highly traumatic kidnapping incident, and as such is going to be worried about the fate of those it left behind, not in the least because the last time it was kidnapped ART threatened to throw bombs at the problem until it was returned. It's started out mistrustful, but the initial monster attack will have made one thing clear to it - the other people here are going to need help protecting against the monsters. As time goes on it's going to get more and more horrified by the transformations, and likely more attached to making sure that the others in the Convoy are protected. It likely won't trust in promises of safety in Nirvana, but will want to keep those making the trip safe.

On an OOC level I want to explore Murderbot's trauma through the lens of the transformation, the loss of physical control being very reminiscent of both the ways it was ordered around as a SecUnit and the abandonment and physical corruption it likely would have experienced if the alien contamination had had a chance to work on it. I also want to explore it having more chances to interact with other people as a free agent! It's still figuring out what it means to be a rogue SecUnit and what it wants, so exposing it to a bunch of different people will drive it to do a lot of thinking.

Monster Choice:

Swarm - Thri-kreen. I admit to this one being my favorite! As a construct, Murderbot has a lot of experience being considered off-putting to other people, and I think the buglike features of the swarm would mirror that in an interesting way. Its canonic ability at fighting maps well onto the Thri-kreen lore, and the hive-mind and telepathy would mirror its experiences as a cog in a Corporate security system in a way that would be deeply unsettling for it.

Serpens - Lizardfolk. I think the physical aspects of the change are similar between Swarm and Serpens - they allow for a physical manifestation that would potentially unsettle the people around it! The heightened sense of smell and thermal vision reflect some of its canon enhanced senses, and I like the idea of the glowing eyes giving away its emotions when it is otherwise trying to deny them.

Undead - Draugr. This choice Murderbot would hate most, and it would be challenging for it to deal with the visceral changes and hunger urges that come along with it, but the skeletal and exposed form pairs well with the ability to shrug off injury and even lose body parts that Murderbot often deals with as a SecUnit.

Vehicle Choice: An ATV like this one! With the Tough attribute.
Sample: TDM Toplevel, and Naoto