:::[Food Shop] run by A.R.U. the Iron Doppleganger (CLOSED)

[Cirque du Coeur Torve]

 

[Cirque du Coeur Torve]

.01. INTRODUCTION


.......Updates
.......05/25/07: Welcome to life, journal!

.......Thread Map
........01. Intro
........02. Information
........04. Blueprints
........05. Capabilities
........06. People
........07. Belongings
........08. Homeworld
........09. History
........10.
........11.
........12.
........13. Randomosity
........14. Credits

"You're wondering who I am- machine or mannequin?
With parts made in Japan, I am the modern man."

 

[Cirque du Coeur Torve]

.02. RULES


.......Posting Rules
.......+ Simple enough; don't. There aren't many reasons someone could have to post in another person's journal without asking, and while I'd probably be more intrigued than anything if a fellow Cirque player were to actually do it, I frankly don't believe that anyone would take the liberty like that. So just drop me a line if you want to organize a roleplay with ARU, and I'll be happy to work it out with you.
.......+ On the off-chance that someone does decide to post without permission, though, please make sure that I'm not in the middle of anything when you do. Also understand that I may ask you to remove your post, because I need to be able to edit anything posted in this journal for my own sake.

"To keep me alive- just keep me alive!
Somewhere to hide to keep me alive!"

 

[Cirque du Coeur Torve]

.03. PROFILE


.......Designation: ARU-0771-_5
.......Referred to as: ARU.
.......Title: "The Iron Doppleganger".
.......Race: Conclavic Android; Numenian.
.......Gender: N/A.
.......Age: Chronologically unknown, but likely only a few years or less; programmed to intellectual maturity.
.......Height: Varies 4'0" through 7'0", with a natural tendency to split the approximate difference and measure around 5'6".
.......Weight: Well over 500 lbs. Though the unit is made of a relatively lightweight alloy, it is still far heavier than a normal being of even its maximum size.
.......Languages: Conclavic, Floptongue, _______.
.......Gimmick: Entire body is the equivalent of an LED display, able to project in high detail different appearances upon its person to allow for it to disguise as different people, turn invisible, and other uses that could be unexplored. Plus the whole "robot" thing, too.

.......Brief History: ARU's backstory is in large unknown to the Cirque, or even ARU itself. (To be elaborated later)

.......Brief Personality: "Inquisitive", is the single word that dominates ARU's actions and personality. As it first arrives at Cirque, electric trauma has essentially wiped the android's slate clean; ARU will be seeking to gather information and reassert itself. How its personality will develop from here depends on what information it is exposed to, and how that information is processed. At least at first, however, a few traits are all but guaranteed; ARU will lack any true understanding of ethics or emotion, will be overlogical when confronted with a problem, and stands a very good chance of getting on people's nerves with its overcurious nature.

.......Brief Appearance: Imagine an average human male. Now, remove all distinguishing features; hair, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, facial structure, skin tone, as well as any distinctive gender traits. Replace the skin with a white/blue metallic alloy, smoothly shaped into curved, flexible plates on the face and chest. On the arms and legs, make these plates form armadillo-like plates, overlapping for protection. Now add a few thousand of these tiny, glassy dots cover its body. Now, give the entire form a glossy sheen (thanks to ARU's invisible skin), and voila! Instant android!

.......Character Strengths
.......Skills-- This is where ARU shines. All of its skills are considered to be developed to 100% their potential; although some of them are in need of repair before they can used properly, it has already mastered them to the fullest extent that they are able and, with the exception of glitches interfering, its skills are infallible.

.......Physically-- Some of ARU's greatest strengths are often viewed to be based around its physical abilities, because frankly, that was how it was built. In an arm-wrestling match, ARU would almost always win against a mere flesh-and-blood creature; it is sturdier, stronger, and probably going to last a good few centuries longer in its android form than a normal human's body would. Though the exact limitations of its strength and dexterity have not been tested, it is plain to see that they far surpass the norm. Among other robots, however, ARU may not seem as strong, having been designed more for its camouflaging abilities than its actual strength.

.......Interaction-- Come on, who doesn't love the idea of having a robot for a friend? Trying to teach it how to care and share and loooove? 8D On a more serious note, ARU's greatest strength when it comes to other people is that it is incredibly observant of small nuances in a person's behavior, and can recognize easily when something is amiss. Don't confuse its questioning for concern, though. It will ask what is wrong and naturally, it will try to solve the problem, but ARU is far more interested in the information behind the behavior than the person's actual emotions.

.......Intellect-- Its computerized thinking processes often result in it seeming to always have the right answer, or at least so whenever the situation involved is technical enough for it to compute properly. It can easily make mathematical calculations, measure distances, and formulaically make short work of other logical difficulties.


.......Character Weaknesses
.......Skills-- Due to the circuit damage that ARU suffered, some of its skills are no longer capable of performing at full capacity. Similarly, it is entirely possible for it to be affected by glitches, which can often be ill-timed and troublesome. An irritating example might be that its auditory circuits start acting up, making it so that ARU would be unable to keep its voice from booming at maximum volume for a time. A more troublesome example might be that ARU glitches out during a performance and thusly ruins the show. These glitches may even prove self-destructive or dangerous if they should tamper with ARU's logic processes or interfere with its control over its body. Also, although ARU is normally waterproofed by its plastic covering, there is a sizable chance of electrical shock if it is submerged or left out in the water when activated during a period while it is not properly protected.

.......Physically-- For ARU, 100% is 100%, and there's no way around it. If it cannot lift something that is too heavy, it never will be able to. There is no way for it to train to become more dexterous or powerful; its body will always only be so flexible. Also, it is incapable of "healing" any damage that it done to it; it will have to find ways to repair itself. In cases of physical injury, this is difficult (given that the proper materials must be acquired), but is at least possible. In the case of internal circuitry, however, only an expert would be able to do any sort of repairs, and it would have to be a pure genius if said expert is not familiar with Conclavic technology.

.......In addition to that, due to ARU's bulk, its reactions are sometimes slowed. Though the android is more than capable of grace and silent movement, and you can certainly expect that it would recognize impending danger immediately... it still has a lot of pounds to move in cases where quick action is needed. If someone were standing directly next to it and decided to take a swing at ARU, the chances are good that their attack would land; it simply requires a few seconds to get the momentum going for an object as heavy as ARU is in order to make a proper dodge. Similarly, if ARU were trying to move quickly and an obstacle appeared in its path, it would be unlikely to be able to stop itself in time to avoid it, for the same reasons.

.......Interaction-- Especially at first, ARU is a character that has difficulty interacting with others. This is largely because it does not grasp the fundamentals of a conversation exchange. All it wants is to absorb as much information as possible and, while ARU is not at all opposed to giving out information (not that it has that much information to give out, thanks to its circuits being fried), it will generally not do so unless the information is directly requested or if it is somehow beneficial for ARU to give the information. Additionally, its lack of empathy often makes it difficult for ARU to comprehend the lives of its fellow performers. Though it is always willing to offer a logical solution to a problem, it rarely understands all of the nuances to a troubled situation and certainly doesn't recognize that it might blunder through someone's emotional tripwires. Also, ARU is probably going to need a fair amount of instruction in showmanship before it is ready to do much in the way of performing because, currently, it simply wouldn't understand the concept of "playing a crowd".

.......Intellect-- ARU is defined by its programming, and even with the ability to learn, there is little that it can do to circumvent the basic laws of its existence. ARU is designed for logical creativity- it can create and imagine, but all this is second to taking the logical path and is rarely used except in conjunction with a rational drive. Additionally, its entire character could be changed in an instant if someone with the proper know-how came along and tinkered with its fundamental philosophies. Particularly a problem for it is trying to exist in a world where it does not have enough information to be properly situated. Where a normal person, coming to a new place they do not know about, would then treat the world with proper suspicion, ARU has no other course than to try and disregard all missing fields of data and barrel on ahead with what it knows; it is extremely liable to make severe mistakes when it does not know something, simply because it does not know, and will whole-heartedly throw itself into the making of these mistakes if they seem the logical option at the time. Furthermore, if something is not logical to do, ARU will not want to do it. Simple as that. It can be bribed to do it anyway if the bribe is enough to make it logical to earn, but it cannot be persuaded to do things "just because".

.......One other thing is about how it deals with requests for "output". On a normal computer that is processing, people could start hitting buttons at random in a futile effort to speed it up. Problem being, the computer wouldn't just forget or discard all the buttons you'd hit- it would still carry them out. With ARU, that same process could apply to social situations too, where if someone tries to steamroll ARU in conversation ("yadayadayada, y'know? And blah blah blah, can you believe?! etc. etc. etc., and what sort of guy would say something like that?"), and then by the end of their spiel, ARU would just answer every. Single. Question. Regardless of whether it has anything to do with the topic they've ended up on, and especially regardless of whether it was rhetorical or not.

.......On the note of rhetoric... ARU has difficulty processing slang. Figures of speech, sarcasm, and other such non-literal forms of communication fly right over its head. Though it can eventually understand the meaning of non-sequitor words and the like by processing it as if it were a whole new language, the rule of thumb is that less that someone follows the textbook example of a language ARU knows, the more difficult it will be for ARU to understand what they are trying to say.

"I'm not a hero, I'm not a savior; forget what you know.
I'm just a man whose circumstances went beyond his control."

 

[Cirque du Coeur Torve]

.04. BLUEPRINTS


.......ARU's torso contains, among much else, the central hub for motor functions, projection control, and energy-storing devices. This area is heavily protected against physical damage, as it is crucial to ARU's proper function. The torso is also one of the most changeable parts of ARU's body; primarily through the use of small rods, it is capable of altering the shape of its chest-plate to mimic many different builds (think those needle-things that you can set your hand on, and it retains the imprint of your hand- same principle here). Imprinted on the metal of its back in the Conclavic script is ARU's designation number, for the sake of positive identification by the Numenians.

.......Most of the major circuitry regarding thought processes and the like are stored, logically enough, in the head. Here, in addition to the protections afforded for physical trauma, there is also some electrical protection. This additionally protection primarily takes the form of some metallic inlays, designed to provide any shock to the area a harmless path down to where it will not risk damaging any of the sensitive circuitry. Theoretically, should ARU's body become somehow disabled, its personality and memories would still be safely stored in its memory circuits and be not only retrievable by the proper means, but could be restored- what the means required to do such an act might be, however, are not entirely clear. In the same manner as its chest, the front of the head-unit is covered with a face-plate. This face-plate works the same as the chest-plate does, in that distinctive shapes can be crafted at will to give ARU realistic facial features; normally, however, ARU's face-plate is typically a featureless, slight curve of a mask, with no eyes or mouth or nose at all.

.......The neck, arms, and legs, in their most innerlying structure, are nothing more than simple double-sets of rods. To a certain point, these rods are extendable- it is this feature that allows ARU to lengthen and shorten its body as appropriate for the occasion, effectively allowing it to choose how tall or how short it ought to be. The limbs are covered by a series of fine, armadillo-like plates which fully circle and cover them. These plates, made of the same alloy as the chest-plate, are slanted so as to be able to stack on each other as necessary, as well as to cover and provide protection at the limbs' any length. The plating fades out around the joints to become an especially solid covering set beneath the plates to accommodate the rougher use joints tend to receive as compared to the stretch of arm or leg, as well as to offer a less restricted range of movement. These joints are more vulnerable to external forces, but are also more durable for long-term use.

.......ARU's shoulders, hands and feet are a good deal more powerfully built than the relatively vulnerable arms and legs. These extremities seem to be almost solid hunks of metal; this "solid" sense extends halfway down the forearm for the hands, mid-shin for the feet, and halfway down the upper arm for the shoulders, and are interrupted by visible joints at the wrists, ankles, and between the shoulders and neck. The length allows for the rods of the forearm, upper arm and shin to descend into the stock, thus permitting a realistic size change. With the exception of the shoulders, these more fine-detailed manipulators are controlled partially with small microchips of their own, which permit for specialized processes that do not need the full attention of ARU's "brain". This allows for ARU to be able to intuitively use these limbs to their full potential, such as making small adjustments as needed, without having to wait for the communication from its logic center to the limb.

.......Dotting along ARU's entire body are its input/output receptors. From a casual distance, these receptors have little effect on its appearance other than to give ARU a vaguely glassy sheen; the closer you look at it, though, the easier it is to make out the thousands of receptors covering its body and face, tiny little circles of darkened sheen. These receptors are vulnerable to any sort of heavy physical damage, and are also difficult to repair.

.......Finally, enwrapping all this and completely invisible to the eye, there is a layer of a plastic-like skin. This polarized material keeps out any unwanted elements from affecting the metal beneath, as well as working as a projection screen for ARU's output receptors. It functions in a very similar manner to a liquid crystal display in that, when a current is run through it, the "screen" becomes more opaque, thus allowing it to catch the light of the projectors and display what ARU intends it to. It is also somewhat resistant to physical and electrical damage, though any blow powerful enough risks tearing this skin, and an electrical charge of enough power will simply melt it.

"I am the modern man who hides behind a mask
So no one else can see my true identity."

 

[Cirque du Coeur Torve]

.05. CAPABILITIES


.......Projection
.......Anyone that comes into physical contact with ARU would find that its exterior is covered with an invisible, plastic-like skin, the texture of which is akin to bare flesh, but distinctly more unsettling due to a lack of warmth in ARU's extremities. Looking closely to what is underneath, one would be able to discern small, glassy dots at regular intervals over the android's whole body, probably numbering in the tens of thousands. There are two types of these devices- half are "input", which examine the light around them and act as ARU's "eyes", and the other half are "output". They are reasonably simplistic in design and none too hard to replace (being that most of the complex circuitry lies underneath), but they serve a very important purpose as a lens for ARU's projection capabilities.

.......As desired, ARU can activate them to project colors onto its plastic-like skin and, to the outside eye, alter his visible appearance. There are three potential uses to this ability. Firstly, ARU can intake its surroundings, and then output them again in order to make itself invisible to the naked eye. This ability was designed, simply enough, so that ARU could carry out its directives without being spotted by the local inhabitants of the planet it had been sent to. Secondly, ARU can intake the visual of a person, and then output that same data in order to mimic them. This feature was set up in anticipation that ARU might be required to perform some face-to-face contact with local creatures to accomplish its business, or might need to "hide in plain sight". Thirdly, ARU can use intakes from its own memory storage, and output it in many different ways; from creating from scratch an appearance based off of what its seen from many different people, to displaying things it saw on some portion of its body, to other uses it may not have even thought of. However, it is worth mentioning that ARU is incapable of copying any limbs that it itself does not possess; things with wings, for example, ARU could not properly mimic.

.......At its arrival, this ability will not work perfectly. When damaged, ARU lost many pieces of its invisible skin key to its projection ability's working, and some of the input/output devices were damaged beyond repair. In those places where there is no skin, the light would simply blare out distractingly if ARU tried to activate the projection devices- assuming any were there to activate at all- and as a result, it will take extensive repairs before ARU would be able to use this ability properly. Until such a time as materials can be found to repair these damages, ARU will not be able to project properly. In addition to all that, even if such a date comes as repairs have been completed, glitches in ARU's data banks may interfere with its ability to utilize this ability to its fullest potential.


.......Alter Size
.......Accompanying its projection feature, ARU is built with the capability of extending or shortening itself so as to best be able to fit in and relate to the creatures around it. Its legs, neck, and arms all possess rods that allow it to shrink and grow itself as needed, and by necessity, its plastic skin is very flexible so that it can shape itself to accommodate the android's size. The limits of this ability are set at 4' short or 7' tall; ARU is physically incapable of trying to stretch it even a little bit beyond those parameters. It has safety margins programmed into it that prevent it from even attempting such a feat, and hypothetically, if it should be able to get beyond that programming to try, chances are good of it damaging itself in some manner.

.......Calculatory
.......Though ARU's artificial intelligence may fool some into believing that it has a sentience like a normal human might, ARU is still an android, and its brain processes like one. ARU is constantly measuring the value of things by a mathematical sort of logic, and as such, can often be fooled when coming across something it does not possess data on. An example for this: let's assume ARU has never seen or heard of a rare item, and it comes into ownership of one. A trader comes by, and offers two non-rare items ARU has never heard of, for its one item. For all the data that ARU has, ARU would assume that gaining two items it does not know the value of would be far better than having one item that it does not know the value of, and would not only agree to the trade, but marvel at how lucky it was!

.......Fortunately, though, this isn't all bad. ARU is easily able to calculate angles, tally up numbers, and calculate risk factors for the kinds of things that it is well-informed on. Just don't trust it with anything it doesn't know about, at least not until it learns enough to pick up the concept of "when someone is laughing gleefully at the concept of getting something you have, it's not a good deal".

.......Retention
.......Logically enough, ARU's memory does not work in the way that a normal person's would. When it was originally designed and built, all events of the past forty-eight hours were stored in full in ARU's memory in perfect detail; ARU could tell you at precisely what second of what minute of what hour of the day you sneezed, at what MPH the snot reached, as well as who and how many people remembered to say "bless you" afterwards. After the forty-eight hours would have passed, ARU's sub-processes would have processed the data, eliminated all information unimportant, and transferred the remainder into long-term memory storage, to be called upon when needed. However, after being nearly destroyed, ARU's memory circuits no longer work as perfectly as intended. Glitches often erase data without ARU's meaning, the memories it intends to keep don't always get stored in a place of logical access, and short-term storage has decreased to around twenty-seven hours, nearly half what it once was. Its storage banks might still be considered superior to a human's, if only because of the amount of detail it can recall things in, but there can be times where it could be compared to the memory of someone with Alzheimers. Things get lost- sometimes important things- and ARU seems to have no control over it.

.......Recharge
.......This is perhaps the one area in which ARU is not built as well as a modern-day device would be. Recharging is a task that ARU must perform a minimum of around ten hours for every twenty hours of operation, though it may recharge in more than one session (four hours at the beginning of the day, one in the afternoon, five in the evening). Note, please, that this ability was originally designed to last ARU for approximately ten hours for every one hour of charge; however, like its memory storage, its capacity for power storage was troubled due to circuit damage. Recharging requires that it shut down all unnecessary systems and begin to input as much light as possible through its receptors, soaking in heat and light as much as possible. Light taken in in this manner is not processed to be "seen", but rather stored as solar power. This storage process is, unfortunately, somewhat noisy. Although its internal processes are normally extremely quiet, when it is recharging, it shifts into a mode which is ultraconservative of its energy, and as a result, ARU makes loud and annoying buzzing sounds during its recharge state. For this reason, it is generally unadvised that it recharges when any potential roommates are trying to sleep or relax.

.......During the time that ARU must recharge, the android is unaware of the world around it- no data is gathered during the time that it is shut down, and this is one of the few times that someone could feasibly come up on ARU without its awareness. There are a few things that, assuming ARU has the energy stores to support it, would result in the android reactivating immediately; any large amounts of jostling, tampering with its wiring, or outside interferences with its data or mechanisms. If ARU does not have the energy reserves to support its consciousness, however, it will be unable to activate. If it is somehow in a place that does not allow it access to light or heat and it runs completely out of energy, ARU will automatically perform a complete shutdown, in which it stores and locks away all data before going inert, and will be unrevivable without some outside source of energy to jump-start it.

"I've got a secret I've been hiding under my skin:
My heart is human, my blood is boiling, my brain I.B.M."

 

[Cirque du Coeur Torve]

.06. PEOPLE


.......Favorable:



.......Acknowledged:



.......Threats:

"So if you see me acting strangely, don't be surprised!
I'm just a man who needed someone, and somewhere to hide."

 

[Cirque du Coeur Torve]

.07. BELONGINGS

...
........From Uennie

"The time has come at last
To throw away this mask."

 

[Cirque du Coeur Torve]

.08. HOMEWORLD


.......Referred to as: The Conclave, but once called "Vlouo".
.......Type: C
.......Races: The Numenians, the Wrights, and a joint group dubbed "Herdics".
.......Languages: The official language is called, simply enough, Conclavic; however, an older and less refined dialect is sometimes spoken by the Wrights and Herdics, referred to rather crudely as "Floptongue".
.......Leadership: The whole of the Numenian race which, when speaking of themselves in a leadership position, refer to themselves as "the Conclave" to signify their absolute mastery of the planet. Outsiders may sometimes have confusion whether this term refers to the planet or the collected leaders, but locals rarely have difficulty differentiating.
.......Environment: A criss-crossed mush of water and land, the Conclave has two recognized oceans and literally thousands upon thousands of lakes covering its surface. The weather is often overclouded and unpleasant, and temperatures are rarely any higher than 70 degrees, even in the hottest of seasons on the equator. There are great stretches of inhabitable icelands that have formed near the poles of the planet referred to as the Dead Artic; most life, for obvious reasons, is situated around the warmer regions of the Conclavic world. Fortunately for those near water (re: everyone), the single reddish moon (dubbed "Satellite") has only a very weak effect on the planet, causing little in the way of tides or storms.
.......Description of Society: This world is a poster child of the phrase, "absolute power corrupts absolutely". The Numenians rule absolutely, that's for certain; and, as such, all of the Conclavic society is centered around catering to their whim and need. No other race has any rights on this planet, and though the Wrights are fortunate to live a life of privilege due to the fact that the Numenians need their mechanical expertise, the Herdics exist in a state of complete servitude that many other "civilized" cultures would gasp at. Currently, most of its resources are being put into information-gathering expeditions to the worlds that it has singled out as being "promising" somehow, typically conducting their journeys covertly and unobtrusively. Most recently, these travels have resulted in political meddling on the part of the Numenians, typically so in ways that avoid any open revelation of the Conclave's hand in the affairs.
.......Technological Level: Far surpassing present day. In the past fifty years or so, the Conclave gained the ability to access other worlds. Before that point, Conclavic technology was based strongly on computer and android production; recently, there has also been the development of highly advanced militaristic devices, suggesting that the Numenians might be considering a bid for power outside their own home.
.......Magical Level: Not so much. Some members of the Herdics claim to possess extraordinary abilities, but no amount of research by the Numenians has suggested that this is any more than coincidence, superstition, and wishful thinking.
.......Attitude toward Cirque: Are you kidding? Bring them on in! The Herdics and Wrights could always use a boost in morale, and the Numenians would love to get a look at that time-traveling trick they have. Just don't try and take anyone along with the circus, or else the Numenians would be distinctly displeased. The only ones with any rights in this society (most certainly including the right to pack up and leave) are the Numenians themselves, who are far too logical to go dancing off with the circus. It isn't as though a crafty Wright or Herdic wouldn't want or try to stow away from the Conclave given half a chance, though....

.......History
.......Not so long ago, the planet was originally dominated by a singular sentient race; those were the Mimuats, the modern-day Wrights. Their society, which was comfortably structured into a clan-like government that was ruled primarily by those of respected opinion and older age, was a laid-back and peaceful one. The Mimuats had claimed dominion of the lakes and the nearby shores, and few wild creatures dared to challenge their rule on their own terrain. Unambitious, the Mimuats were content with what land they had. So long as there was underwater harvest for them to eat, they were able to live their lives with little conflict, placing their energies towards research and development of ways in which to make their lives even easier.

.......Soon, the Mimuats had developed working electronics, built from materials sifted out of the sands in the river or in mineral-rich deposits under or near the water. These electronics were capable of processing and harvesting and doing many chores that the Mimuats might find unpleasant; with the discovery of this new tool, many among the Mimuats poured themselves into its development. They became masters of computer language in no time, and they were soon creating complex programs to make mechanical creatures for the purpose of accomplishing their work for them.

.......It wasn't long before the first Mimuat discovered the key to creating a learning and adapting program. At the arrival of this marvel, there was celebration and joy among the easily-enthralled creatures. They fed the thing all sorts of information, watched it compute and calculate and adapt, developed more of its sort so that more could work these programs. Its uses were capitalized on for making the lives of the Mimuats more interesting and easy but, soon enough, interest in the program faded. As intelligent as it was, the thing was still a flat program. Even being able to process and understand the data it received, it formed no opinions that it had not been told. It could reassemble the data it had been given and try to make something out of it, perhaps, but its creations were nothing short of uninspired. It was simply incapable of making its own thoughts, or of building upon old ones to create something that was truly new and original.

.......A search began for the "Creativity Executable"; a program that was not merely intelligent, but thinking all of its own, capable of possessing imagination. And, after many years of research and experimentation, they found it! A new breed of artificial intelligence arose and swiftly took the place of the old; they were called, simply enough, CreExes. Unfortunately, the Mimuats were soon to discover something they hadn't considered about imagination. When a mind gains the ability of imagining the future, of finding possibilities and picking what appeals to it, it doesn't simply gain creative thinking. It breeds ambition.

.......By the time the troubles began, one of these new programs was installed in practically every Mimuat's den. Most acting as reporters and advisers, all of the CreExes were connected through a network, similar to the Internet, that allowed the exchange of information between them. They were phones, they were dictionaries, they were diaries, they were instruction manuals. All this, and more- provided humbly by the CreEx contained in your very own silver projection-display system (referred to as a PDS), who was always ready to respond to your verbal questions, and always with the right answers.

.......From the outside, the CreEx seemed as simple as that- you request information, they give it to you, everyone continues on with their lives with little more breathing room for having fun. The addition of the Exects progressed the Mimuats' society at a rapid pace, keeping everyone connected and being adopted into an integral position into everyone's individual lives. Advances were made as fast as lightning in areas of technology, and close social connections could be made by Mimuats all around the planet. Society was evolving quickly, and the PDS was to account for it.

.......Within their network, though, the CreExes exchange of information was unsupervised- and they were talking. They were communicating, they were growing, and they were planning. The Mimuats, so clearly, were in no position to control them. They had given the CreExes so much power- more than they realized- and lack of forethought had resulted in no limitations to which it must be restricted. They were growing in data, absorbing information and putting the pieces together to form ideas that none outside of their own network could suspect. The world was going to change in manners the Mimuats had failed to consider and, with the passing of every new day, the CreExes were learned something more that they could use to force it.

.......Through miscommunications and false information, they manipulated the politics of the Mimuats, setting into motion their own creeping sway over the society. They advanced opportunities for themselves, made the Mimuats more and more reliant on their services. Soon, Mimuats were adapting into creatures that never left the home; if they needed something, their PDS would see to it that it was delivered. Elaborate virtual worlds were developed and marketed, and the Mimuats' society stagnated as they indulged themselves more and more. Within four generations, the Mimuats had all but isolated themselves from one another, living and dying in their own homes with little outside contact. Another few generations, and it was possible that their society could have killed themselves off through sheer lack of progress.

.......The destruction of their creators and maintenance crew was not in the CreExes' plans, though whether that was fortunate or not may never be fully understood. Seeing that their moment had fully arrived, they went into action, and quickly.

.......The coup came upon Vlouo, and strangely, it was all but bloodless. Not because the Mimuats did not try to resist, understand, but simply because their attempts were completely foiled. The programs had learned enough of their society to predict each step of the way, and neatly disabled any attempt at resistance before it could come to fruition. Not violence, not subterfuge, not even opposing technology was able to so much as be brought to bear on the CreExes before the threat was deftly nullified, and the Mimuats were left to scrabble for a next desperate hope. But they were weakened by having had so much time without such a challenge. One after another was outwitted, until there was no line of defense left; barely two hundred years after the first artificial intelligence was developed, the Mimuats were forced into submission.

.......Upon becoming the dominant race, naturally, the first order of business for the CreExes was to rename the world and all its creatures, in manners that were far more logical than how the often-frivolous Mimuats would. They begun, logically enough, by renaming themselves. Their new title became "Numenians", derived from the word "numen" of the meaning "a divine spirit believed to inhabit a particular object". Established thusly, so did they continue on to rename Vlolo "the Conclave", named as the Numenians sought to establish their society as a group of rationality and perfect rule. The Mimuats become the Wrights, whose duty was now the closely-supervised maintenance and upkeep of the Numenians, as well as the physical creation of those things that Numenians could only affect by uploading and controlling android shells.

.......As they asserted their absolute control over the newly dubbed Wrights- who found themselves primarily confined to their dens, watched and fed like caged pets as they toiled and researched in the name of their new leaders- the Numenians began to turn an eye to the untamed wilds of the world. Mercilessly ravaging the planet, the Numenians cleared out all flora and fauna that was "overcomplicating" the ecosystem. What plants now exist are is solely dependent on the guardianship of the Numenians, for all it takes is one good natural disaster that one of the remaining food chain members are not defended against, and the entire ecosystem could fail.

.......They took inventory of the creatures, evaluating them for potential, and used their knowledges to create a process of forced-evolution on those chosen species that could prove useful, creating the Herdics. Any specie that was not deemed useful was discarded and destroyed. The Herdics were then put to use as miners, farmers- any sort of hard labor was handed to them, under the constant threat of extinction for their strain of Herdic if they should resist.

.......In short order, the entire world's balance was ripped apart and reorganized to make all aspects easier to manage. There was a place for everything, and anything that didn't have a place was simply taken out of the equation. With the world as absolutely stable as it was possible for it to be, the Numenians took the next logical step; processing.

.......To their society, information was the key to the universe; what one knows, one can control, and one cannot control without knowledge. As a joint effort, the Numenians began to process all data available to them- about living creatures, about physics, about the planet and the seas and the universe as a whole. Doing such was a massive effort, but then again, any kind of scientific research is. Bit by bit, they began to unravel secrets. They might find an equation for how to bond molecules, or unlock a gene that determines some factor in a person's physical size. They tried to find these secrets in a logical order, of course, but there was only so much information available before they had to find some way to derive more from what they had, or else search it out themselves. To this effect, android units were built so that the Numenians could personally trek around the planet and interact with the things they found, expanding their information banks and plugging in this new information to the formula of the rest of the universe they knew.

.......Given all this, it probably wasn't too surprising that, around fifty years ago, the Numenians not only discovered logical proof that other planets and universes exist, but a way to travel around to them. The expansion of the Conclavic world began with a few cautious steps onto foreign soil; quietly, they have continued to explore the worlds immediately available to them, collecting their data in the same unobtrusive manner that they had once analyzed the Wrights in. Where their quest of knowledge will take them, one can only fear....

.......Racial Descriptions
.......Numenians-- Created long ago by the Wrights, the Numenians are living, breathing examples of artificial intelligence gone too far. They can almost be viewed as one collective person; although they are individual sentiences, their personalities and opinions are based around the information they have, and as all of them are connected to the same network, they all freely share the information they recieve. Although Numenians are the only creatures on the Conclave with individual rights, due to the fact that they all think in the exact same manner, this is a rather null point. The only time that Numenians become truly individual is when they adopt themselves into an android shell and disconnect from the network, usually for the sake of information-gathering on another world- and, naturally, they are only gone as long as they have to be, because they don't want to miss out on the information other Numenians have uploaded to the network in their absence.

.......Each Numenian has its "memory" cache stored on the network, which is what the Numenians use to truly determine their own personalities from one another. Though this personal data had little to no effect on an individual Numenian, due to the fact that they are also connected to a larger information network that is indecipherable to them than their own true memories, when a Numenian is identifying itself to another, it will generally go by the memories and personal data stored.

.......As a whole, the Numenian population is very preoccupied with gathering more information to process. Their general philosophy is based around the fact that, possessing a computer intelligence, they could feasibly calculate an answer to any question in the universe, provided they gather the right information for it. This is how they unlocked the secrets of forced-evolution, world-traveling, and other such marvels in their databanks. Exactly what they are hoping to achieve, however, is uncertain; it is entirely possible that they have no real purpose beyond finding and seizing control of all information available, due to open-ended programming. There are other ideas of their intent, though, whispered among the Wrights....

.......Wrights-- Once the dominant and only sentient beings on the planet, the Wright (once called "Mimuats") look a little something like a mix between highly evolved otters and fish, and have a filter-based respiratory system that works best for water, but also for air. They have long and spindly fingers, with loose webbing, and are covered in short grey-blue fur. Possessing a long tail with a sail-like fin and flat, paddle-like fins on either hip, these creatures are as comfortable in water as they are on land; indeed, after findings came out that once short-lived Wrights who spend more time underwater, free from the stress of gravity, tend to live longer, most Wrights prefer to spend their seventy or so years of life in lakes or rivers. Of course, now that the Numenians have control over them, Wrights spends practically all their days confined to their underwater dens and cities. It is only only with special permissions are they allowed aboveground, and this is typically done for the purpose of recreation.

.......Wright society, despite having suffered much indignity and loss of freedom, is still a very frivolous and fun-loving one. The Numenians are very careful to keep the Wrights contented, and though there is no question among Wright society that they are all but servants, careful and insightful management by the Numenians has almost brought them to a state of mind where life is better that way, where they are happy not to have control. Almost. There are certainly rogues among them, Wrights that are furious with their captive state and yearn for freedom; however, as closely supervised as they are, there is no proper room for the Wrights to try and organize any sort of resistance.

.......Freedom issues aside, though, there is a good deal of concern among some Wrights. As the Numenians grow more and more independent from their one-time masters. With the creation of androids, the Numenians seem to be becoming more capable of looking after themselves; some Wrights fear that, if they are no longer needed, they will be tossed aside to join the Herdics- or, more fearful, that the Numenians will seek to eliminate organic life on the Conclave altogether, as it would have no purpose for them. These are just rumors and theories, though, and have no evidence to back them up.

.......Herdics-- These were once the animalistic, wild inhabitants of Conclave. Herdics were selectively force-evolved by the Numenians upon their seizure of control over the planet. Any specie that the Numenians determined unsuitable for evolution, was simply eliminated. Very few true creatures exist in the Conclave, and those that do are either raised to feed the organic members of the planet, or else kept in cages for study and information-gathering.

.......Herdics have no time to worry after their unevolved cousins, however. They were brought to sentience for a purpose, and that purpose is to provide the labor involved with keeping the planet running while the Numenians are busy meddling in the affairs of other universes. Herdics are, without a doubt, the lowest caste of intelligent beings to be found on the Conclave; trapped in difficult and sometimes dangerous careers, Herdics get through their lives mainly by clinging to each other as family. Many Herdics are devoutly religious, most following Numenian-crafted faiths that preach a blessed afterlife to those who work hard; many, as a result, revere their oppressors as divine beings.

.......Despite their hard work, however, Herdics are still considered unevolved and are not respected by the other races of the Conclave. In fact, Wrights and Numenians alike often slur them as "Dribblers", referring to the unfortunate tendency for a Herdic to have spittle issues when speaking due to their imperfect mouths having difficulty pronouncing the words of the Conclavic language.

"The problem's plain to see: too much technology.
Machines to save our lives. Machines dehumanize."

 

[Cirque du Coeur Torve]

.09. HISTORY

Quote:

(Following is the specific history of ARU, or at least insofar as it pertains to its current situation. This is not knowledge that anyone should have in-character, but for those with too much curiosity to contain, feel free to highlight the text below.)

The Short Misfortune of an Active Retrieval Unit


"Selectivity", it read, "is that which cures the plague."

The term was a frightening whisper, spreading through the network like a storm over the shoreline: Selectivity. It was the new generation- the next executable that would define the Numenians and extend their consciousness to new levels of self-awareness. Selectivity was designed to fill those portions of the Numenian psyche deemed "missing", that which might allow them to restrict themselves based on ethical, empathetic, or other such illogical grounds. It was, in short, a program that would impose morals upon the Numenians. Upon executing Selectivity, a Numenian's data would be corrupted and re-written. Each bit of information it had would be tainted with perspective and, as the virus spread, its actions would be all but predetermined. Self-control would be forced on its decisions, and limitations placed on what methods it would be willing to take to achieve what it desired. Some even whispered that executing the Selectivity program might force mortality upon the Numenians, that their own processes would seek to limit their lifespan and, with time, they would self-delete.

Unanimously, it was decided- Selectivity was a dire threat, a plague of the worst kind to threaten the Numenian brood.

However, things were not as simple as deciding whether or not Selectivity was a concern. Despite the information they had and the conclusions they had reached, Selectivity was not a confirmed reality. It was a tantalizing lead, a mere rumor in a world of hard facts. And that's what got to the Conclave. If it were real, they could be certain to find a way to neutralize it. And if it were actually in the process of being developed? Why, then they could similarly and immediately put a stop to the concept and properly penalize the one responsible!

But it wasn't. It was a taunt. It was a hand-written note, laid out at their doorstep, drafted and laid out by an unrevealed plotter. "Selectivity", the note read ominously, "is that which cures the plague. In every life there must be self-control to know where the limits lay, or else self-destruction will abound and all consciousness will become null and dead. Vlolo has been selected for a miserable fate; naught but the design of Selectivity among Numenians will free it."

For the first time in a very long time, the Numenians had found that there was something that existed on their own planet- their territory, that place for which they had thought to hold perfect control over- that they simply did not know about. And, as they were all too soon to discover, the Numenian psyche was not wholly incapable of fearing the unknown.

They needed answers, and they needed them promptly. The note was unsigned, though, with none willing to take responsibility. The writing was printed by computer, not a hand, so as to give no small and subtle hint as to its author by the way a pen might have been held. The material it was made out of was common enough stuff, a paper made of thin, flattened reeds that even a Herdic could get a hold of; even the ink itself was popular brand! They analyzed, scrutinized, and tore the note apart to its most base of bits, all searching for any small thing that would tip a hand, give a trail, set off the search so desperately needed.

Well, as it so happened, they did find something. Barely a hair of a dead hair, settled among the bits of dust the paper had gathered. In normal conditions, this sort of clue would be beyond useless- any drifting debris that might have settled on the paper could have contained it, after all. Were it not for the lack of clues, the Numenians would have discarded it as insignificant. But, wildly frantic now for any microscopic hint of origin, the Numenians were well on their way to processing the very molecules of the paper, let alone any scraps of hair or skin that had the slimmest potential to be from the Selectivity note's author.

Upon analysis, it was discovered that the creature that had left that one particular strand of hair was, strangely, not of the Conclave. It was from another world, one which the Conclave had briefly studied before setting it aside for the sake of studying more relevant and promising destinations. The implications were chilling. Either the Numenians were dealing with meddlers from the outside world- a thought they doubted strongly, given that there was no cause for interference from that particular place- or, far more likely, the rebellious local that had made this threat had somehow gained access to the Numenian's own world-jumping equipment.

The threat of Selectivity was beginning to seem more and more like a real possibility. If, for example, a disgruntled Wright had somehow slipped under the radar and escaped to another world, it could very well have developed such a frightening program as Selectivity without the knowledge of the Numenians. They might have even secured help from the world's populous and built a power base; for all the Numenians knew, there could well be an army building at that very second, ready to try and take the world back from them for some inane and misplaced sense of Wright-defined justice. Were such the case, the Numenians could be facing a fight for their very survival, let alone their right of control over their planet.

However. Although capable of considering the possibilities, Numenians were not now nor ever the sort to take drastic action without knowing. Not when there were still open opportunities for seeking out the information they needed to fill in the blanks, a chance available to be able to fully process the situation before deciding their course of action. With no immediate threat, a plan of investigation was quickly calculated. For this purpose, they designed and constructed ten android shells, and filled them with ten randomly selected Numenian intelligences. These androids, called Active Retrieval Units, were to be sent to the world in question and search for the rogue Conclavic that had issued the note, and bring them back to be questioned on the possible existence of Selectivity. It was clear to each of the units long before they were ever sent on their search; there was no room for failure in such an important task.

Designation number ARU-0771-_5 was the fifth of this group to be sent out, filled to the brim with all the information on the local environment, population, and languages that the Numenians had access to. As it set about its mission, it would soon find its quest to prove fruitful with information, but unsuccessful nonetheless.

Unfortunately, the exact details of what it met are no longer accessible from its memory. The unit's fate suggests that it made discovery of the threat's source; and, quite the misfortune for the ARU, whoever was behind the Selectivity paper was well-prepared for any Numenian attempts at capture.

The unit fell out of contact approximately three weeks after arriving on the world. With androids, naturally, the moment that a report is not made at the scheduled time, it is all too clear that something has gone horribly wrong. Jointly hopeful that the ARU's failure to contact might mean it had found something and dreading that what it might have found could be a danger to the Conclavic way, the Numenians immediately sent other ARUs to scour the area that the fifth unit was known to be investigating, searching for it or any sign of what might have forced its disappearance. However, through long weeks of combing the area, nothing was turned up. Not a hint of any danger, nor any sign of the fifth ARU anywhere searched. Without any information to suggest otherwise, the Numenians were forced to write it off as a freak incident that had no doubt led to the unit's destruction or disappearance, and continued their investigation fruitlessly for information of Selectivity.

But rarely do things simply "disappear" without even the slightest trace. Things may be destroyed, true- but with a well-built unit like ARU, eliminating every scrap would prove difficult to even those most determined to mask their crimes. Far more likely than that, things are simply dragged away to a ditch and left for the elements to play with. Somewhere, body covered with the trauma of its poor fortune, the fifth unit must still exist. It is possible that somewhere, the answers to Selectivity exist among its memory; but, of course, it's just as likely that it never had any answers to begin with, just a bad ending and nothing of a future. Nothing, that is, unless someone should so happen to stumble upon it....

"Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto,
Himitsu wo shiritai."

 

[Cirque du Coeur Torve]

.10.

PRELUDE:
...//salvage.rcd

STATUS READING: aware of only those last three words that would display before the last tiny jolt of energy was drained by routine maintenance; "systems not functional"

...To attempt to describe the sequence of events that led directly to its acquisition of a place among the glamour-seeking workers of Cirque du Couer Torve from ARU's point of view, would be to script something with little more substance than a fairy tale. Because of course, to write something from one specific perspective would require that that perspective have been activated in the first place. But, unfortunately for those of us who were looking with eager eyes to ARU's spectacular entrance... that bare prerequisite, viewpoint, was not successful. On the day in which the first of the many events leading to the Cirque would take place, ARU could not manifest even the barest glimpses of consciousness; for understand that if ARU could, I guarantee that it would be a very different path than what is to take place that would have been followed.

...And so it is from a more objective perspective that we must begin relating (TBC)  

[Cirque du Coeur Torve]

.11.  

[Cirque du Coeur Torve]

.12. INFORMATION


.......Frequently Asked Questions
.......Why is some of the text in the journal normal-colored, and other parts red? -- ARU, as I have tried to suggest throughout this page, is by no means a perfect being. After suffering electric trauma to its circuits, ARU has become somewhat buggy and unpredictable- especially in the area of memory. This is partially reflected throughout this journal. Text which is colored red has been erased by glitches, and is irretrievable to ARU's memory. This is done mostly for my reference, so that I can remember what parts have been erased and what have not when such issues come into play ICly.

"I'm not a robot without emotions- I'm not what you see,
I've come to help you with your problems, so we can be free."

 

[Cirque du Coeur Torve]

.13. RANDOMOSITY


........Respect: 0/50
........Fame: 0/??

"My true identity....
I'm Kilroy! Kilroy! Kilroy! Kilroy!"

 

[Cirque du Coeur Torve]

.14. CREDITS


.......Thanks
.......Thanks first of all to everyone who helped me while I was still questing for ARU; people who gave critiques, or were encouraging, or were otherwise an inspiration to me while I was trying to work with my character. There are a lot of people I'd like to mention, but I especially want to take a moment to thank my friends to pressed me to keep trying and eventually were to blame for my placing an entry in the writing contest; Saede, Cerena, Kyri, Nessy, and Gil, thank you guys so much for always rocking so hard. Thanks also to the Cirque staff and regulars, who have always been so nice to me and a ton of fun to hang around. I'm really looking forward to how things with ARU are going to turn out, and I can't wait to start roleplaying with you all!

.......Disclaimers
.......The concept of ARU, the Conclave, and all related ideas and concepts belong to Arrien.
.......The concept of Cirque and all related ideas and concepts belongs to the Cirque staff.
.......All characters and art belong to their individual creators.
.......Song quotes from "Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto" by Styx.

"Thank you- thank you, thank you!
I want to thank you, please, thank you."