[OOC] Application for Brave New World
Jan. 5th, 2014 07:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
potatobotPLAYER INFO
Name: Raile
Contact Information: Railerat on AIM and Plurk
Time Zone: EST, but sleep schedule is highly variable
Characters Played: N/A
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: GLaDOS
Character Canon: Portal
History: Wiki link
AU History: GLaDOS is a piece of old tech that has lain dormant since the apocalypse--probably for the better. The brainchild of a man named Cave Johnson and built his scientist employees, she functioned more or less like she did in canon--except that here she experimented on humans and Pokemon alike. I'm forced to be deliberately vague about certain things due to the lack of a Chell, but I'm going to assume that Chell was not a thing--which means the events of canon more or less didn't happen. The entire facility was destroyed in the apocalypse, however, and GLaDOS was knocked offline and buried in rubble--where she stayed for generations.
Humanity, however, is not very good at letting things lie dead, and eventually the site was disturbed by a Delver named Caroline. Caroline's Electric typing allowed her to occasionally interact with old tech in ways she would not have been able to otherwise. Unfortunately, this allowed things to start up on an emergency powersave function, and due to a malfunction of emergency Core Transfer process, GLaDOS was installed on Caroline. Thanks to a combination of Caroline's Electric typing and a semi-organic compatibility function (that was NOT meant for this purpose), GLaDOS is now 'plugged in' to Caroline's brain via the left eye socket. Caroline is, for all intents and purposes, deceased, but her brain is still partially intact, meaning that somewhere under GLaDOS lies the very tragic remains of a human being.
In parallel to original canon, the apocalypse and being knocked offline eliminated the various 'control cores' attached to her, allowing her actual (horrible) personality to emerge. And thanks to Caroline, she's no longer attached to her mainframe...
And instead, attached to Caroline. No doubt the influence of an actual organic brain will create something interesting.
Canon Personality: GLaDOS was designed with one purpose in mind: science. And science she does--the value of this science is highly questionable, but her motives for it appear sincere. It may be the most sincere part of her personality.
Outwardly, GLaDOS presents an initial persona of detached calm and collected competence, with little interest in the actual affairs of others. It's so objective and impersonal that you might be excused for initially thinking of her as the very picture of the robotic stereotype. Given time or provocation, however, this deadpan disintegrates quickly, revealing a bitter, cruel, and controlling personality, a terrifying, heartless machine with a vicious streak underlying her dispassionate front. She is incredibly passive-aggressive, and has no compunction about lying, and does so frequently. Interestingly, she does so most often in regards to her own emotional state, and usually defencively or preemptively. She routinely masks any strong feelings like alarm or rage with something entirely unrelated and innocuous, such as claiming to be pleased or merely disappointed; alternatively, she may claim to have no "personal feelings" about matters, even though (to the observant) it can be obvious that she very much does. Possessed of a distinctly unaccomodating personality, she comes off as a passive-aggressive, self-centered egoist with anger issues and an unnatural underlying obsession (science).
Actually, that describes her pretty well. She's stuck-up and mean and likes science more than you. But don't take it personally--she probably likes dirt more than you, too.
GLaDOS has a lot of anger, a secret (or not so secret) seething sort of hate that manifests most obviously as distaste or disinterest, but which she takes out constantly on those around her. Her 'humour' is a frequent vehicle for this. It's possible that the circumstances of her very existence are a contributing factor. Regardless, she is almost wholly void of both morals and empathy, and is so insensitive to others' thoughts and feelings that her attempts at manipulation often have the subtlety of a brick wall. In a (perhaps not) unexpected twist, GLaDOS seems incognisant of this fact. She twists the truth so regularly that it's basically a good rule of thumb never to believe anything she says, save perhaps for assertions of intended murder. Those are probably true.
The aforementioned sense of humour is dry, dark, and frequently bitter, if not outright cruel and sarcastic. In delivery, she favours underhanded commentary or insult disingenuously presented as objective fact. Often the punchline is 'death.' Sometimes this is accompanied by an incredible deadpan; other times, she almost sounds human--at least until she delivers the 'punchline.' The morbidity--'black humour'--can be unsettling or uncomfortable, often this ill-fated person is her conversation partner. Despite the unkindness of her 'jokes'--which may be intended (depending on circumstance) to frighten or discourage their audience--she almost never expresses direct malice in this way. The regular denigration of her peers' accomplishments, intelligence, abilities, personal histories, and physical appearance almost seems to be sort of a hobby for her--or perhaps the only thing besides science that she knows how to talk about. Some people collect stamps, GLaDOS makes snide insinuations about your weight or future. Perhaps when you're as advanced as she is, you this seems reasonable. Or maybe you just have to come up with something to keep yourself from going mad.
--or perhaps madness has already occurred.
It's important to remember that in the midst of all the above, GLaDOS' entire driving goal is science. Science is not just the how, but the why of her creation, and it is the very definition of who, what, and why she is. Her definition of science is questionable at best, but her interest in it is wholly sincere. This may be her saving grace in this AU, as her passion for the advancement of science, however questionable in interpretation and execution, may give her something of a purpose, even if the same probably won't earn her any friends.
AU Deviation: The primary deviation will be in the nature of the beast--Caroline is no longer the basis of GLaDOS, but the matter beneath her, so to speak. This creates a bit of a starker contrast between GLaDOS and Caroline, at least superficially, but it means the influnce of Caroline is capable of being anywhere from nonexistent to even more pervasive; more importantly, it means GLaDOS may have to grapple more directly with her.
And alas, GLaDOS is obviously no longer in control of everything around her. She controls no one but herself now--no facility, no testing chambers, few abilities that anyone else could not also have--and while that's going to mirror the separation from her 'body' in canon, it's also going to be a bit more permanent. She's going to be something of a 'fish out of water' in some regards--last she remembers, Trainers were still using Pokeballs, and no one turned into Pokemon or had typing or grew gills.
She's going to have a hard time adjusting to this powerlessness--and an even harder time adjusting to life aboard a human being.
Canon Abilities: GLaDOS is a near-omnipotent, practically all-knowing super-AI. Or rather, she's near-omnipotent within the scope of her facility, which is, for all intents and purposes, part of her. Except for the parts that aren't hooked up to her, like certain back passages. Most of it is, though, and she controls things like the air vents (capable of being flooded with neurotoxin) and many of the walls. So that's terrifying. Because of the immensity of her AI and supporting devices, she has access to the full sum of human knowledge, and can process all of it instantaneously.
Enlightened Abilities: GLaDOS is riding Caroline's typing, which is Electric/Poison. As with Caroline, this allows her to interact with old tech in ways she otherwise would not have been able to--but moreso, as GLaDOS herself is old tech, and knows what she is doing. And thanks to her Poison type, she is in fact capable of exhaling terrible toxins. Exactly the sort of power a homicidal, vindictive AI should have access to, right?
As far as special trainer abilities go, things are... a bit complicated. GLaDOS, being neither human nor Enlightened, is not actually anything, but is for all functional intents and purposes an Analyst, on account of being a computer. Thankfully, she's not hooked up to her facility now, so she's not nearly as all-knowing due to lack of auxiliary devices. Just mostly knowing, at least up to the point where the apocalypse destroyed her facility. She can't know what she and her facility weren't 'there' (on line) for.
Caroline was a Master of Training, and perhaps one day that can manifest over GLaDOS' influence.
Starter Pokémon: None. Caroline had Pokemon, of course, but they left because of GLaDOS.
Notes/Special Considerations: This is where I note that I discussed the ideas behind GLaDOS' AU history with a mod, and state for the record that GLaDOS has not been exiled largely on the basis that she has no memory before 'waking up' already attached to Caroline's face. That being said, she's not been around for very long, maybe a couple weeks at the most, and there are probably people around who knew... uh, the person she's taken over. Caroline was a Delver and contributing member of society, after all.
It may be harder for GLaDOS to bond with Pokemon--terrible personality aside, she's not... actually... a human.
Also, Caroline's Electric typing is what's keeping GLaDOS online. If Caroline's heart were to stop, GLaDOS would have only a few seconds before she also shut down. And on the note of Caroline and GLadOS' fused existence, GLaDOS is capable of speaking on her own or via Caroline's mouth, as she chooses. Generally she chooses herself over Caroline. Reasons should be obvious.
SAMPLES
First-Person: Activity as Gladys, from a Psychonauts AU. Thread from Whispering Rock.
Third-Person: [Whoa. Whoa, whoa whoooooaaaaaa.
What happ-app-apppppppened? Where am I? What is--
Oh my God.
Oh my God.]
Her facility. What had happened to her--wait. No. Not just her facility. Something was wrong. Something was so very wrong. GLaDOS attempted to swivel, to take a look--wait, was that the sky?
And suddenly she found herself flung upside down, rocks and the shadow of a human arm flying briefly across her visual processing unit.
What?
But where was her facility? She couldn't get any of it--she couldn't feel it, but it was supposed to just be there, that was the point--
Why did it sound like breathing right here?
She tried again to turn her frame, to see what was going on, but again it was terrible, like she was trying to wrench the whole facility along with her--or maybe like she was trying to rotate the ceiling, except of course there was no ceiling. But she had moved. So she wasn't entirely disconnected.
The roof must have fallen in. That was it. The entire upper facility had fallen in, and she had fallen with it, and now she was stuck lying on the ground. The reason she wasn't able to do anything was because everything was broken. Which made sense, because now that she was awake, she knew she'd spent the past eternity (and then some) looping the last few seconds of violent explosions and collapse of everything around her.
Well.
This was simply fantastic.
It still didn't explain why she'd seen that arm--she was certain that's what it was. She didn't make mistakes. It had definitely been an arm.
And that breathing... it was getting really annoying.
Really annoying.
Name: Raile
Contact Information: Railerat on AIM and Plurk
Time Zone: EST, but sleep schedule is highly variable
Characters Played: N/A
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: GLaDOS
Character Canon: Portal
History: Wiki link
AU History: GLaDOS is a piece of old tech that has lain dormant since the apocalypse--probably for the better. The brainchild of a man named Cave Johnson and built his scientist employees, she functioned more or less like she did in canon--except that here she experimented on humans and Pokemon alike. I'm forced to be deliberately vague about certain things due to the lack of a Chell, but I'm going to assume that Chell was not a thing--which means the events of canon more or less didn't happen. The entire facility was destroyed in the apocalypse, however, and GLaDOS was knocked offline and buried in rubble--where she stayed for generations.
Humanity, however, is not very good at letting things lie dead, and eventually the site was disturbed by a Delver named Caroline. Caroline's Electric typing allowed her to occasionally interact with old tech in ways she would not have been able to otherwise. Unfortunately, this allowed things to start up on an emergency powersave function, and due to a malfunction of emergency Core Transfer process, GLaDOS was installed on Caroline. Thanks to a combination of Caroline's Electric typing and a semi-organic compatibility function (that was NOT meant for this purpose), GLaDOS is now 'plugged in' to Caroline's brain via the left eye socket. Caroline is, for all intents and purposes, deceased, but her brain is still partially intact, meaning that somewhere under GLaDOS lies the very tragic remains of a human being.
In parallel to original canon, the apocalypse and being knocked offline eliminated the various 'control cores' attached to her, allowing her actual (horrible) personality to emerge. And thanks to Caroline, she's no longer attached to her mainframe...
And instead, attached to Caroline. No doubt the influence of an actual organic brain will create something interesting.
Canon Personality: GLaDOS was designed with one purpose in mind: science. And science she does--the value of this science is highly questionable, but her motives for it appear sincere. It may be the most sincere part of her personality.
Outwardly, GLaDOS presents an initial persona of detached calm and collected competence, with little interest in the actual affairs of others. It's so objective and impersonal that you might be excused for initially thinking of her as the very picture of the robotic stereotype. Given time or provocation, however, this deadpan disintegrates quickly, revealing a bitter, cruel, and controlling personality, a terrifying, heartless machine with a vicious streak underlying her dispassionate front. She is incredibly passive-aggressive, and has no compunction about lying, and does so frequently. Interestingly, she does so most often in regards to her own emotional state, and usually defencively or preemptively. She routinely masks any strong feelings like alarm or rage with something entirely unrelated and innocuous, such as claiming to be pleased or merely disappointed; alternatively, she may claim to have no "personal feelings" about matters, even though (to the observant) it can be obvious that she very much does. Possessed of a distinctly unaccomodating personality, she comes off as a passive-aggressive, self-centered egoist with anger issues and an unnatural underlying obsession (science).
Actually, that describes her pretty well. She's stuck-up and mean and likes science more than you. But don't take it personally--she probably likes dirt more than you, too.
GLaDOS has a lot of anger, a secret (or not so secret) seething sort of hate that manifests most obviously as distaste or disinterest, but which she takes out constantly on those around her. Her 'humour' is a frequent vehicle for this. It's possible that the circumstances of her very existence are a contributing factor. Regardless, she is almost wholly void of both morals and empathy, and is so insensitive to others' thoughts and feelings that her attempts at manipulation often have the subtlety of a brick wall. In a (perhaps not) unexpected twist, GLaDOS seems incognisant of this fact. She twists the truth so regularly that it's basically a good rule of thumb never to believe anything she says, save perhaps for assertions of intended murder. Those are probably true.
The aforementioned sense of humour is dry, dark, and frequently bitter, if not outright cruel and sarcastic. In delivery, she favours underhanded commentary or insult disingenuously presented as objective fact. Often the punchline is 'death.' Sometimes this is accompanied by an incredible deadpan; other times, she almost sounds human--at least until she delivers the 'punchline.' The morbidity--'black humour'--can be unsettling or uncomfortable, often this ill-fated person is her conversation partner. Despite the unkindness of her 'jokes'--which may be intended (depending on circumstance) to frighten or discourage their audience--she almost never expresses direct malice in this way. The regular denigration of her peers' accomplishments, intelligence, abilities, personal histories, and physical appearance almost seems to be sort of a hobby for her--or perhaps the only thing besides science that she knows how to talk about. Some people collect stamps, GLaDOS makes snide insinuations about your weight or future. Perhaps when you're as advanced as she is, you this seems reasonable. Or maybe you just have to come up with something to keep yourself from going mad.
--or perhaps madness has already occurred.
It's important to remember that in the midst of all the above, GLaDOS' entire driving goal is science. Science is not just the how, but the why of her creation, and it is the very definition of who, what, and why she is. Her definition of science is questionable at best, but her interest in it is wholly sincere. This may be her saving grace in this AU, as her passion for the advancement of science, however questionable in interpretation and execution, may give her something of a purpose, even if the same probably won't earn her any friends.
AU Deviation: The primary deviation will be in the nature of the beast--Caroline is no longer the basis of GLaDOS, but the matter beneath her, so to speak. This creates a bit of a starker contrast between GLaDOS and Caroline, at least superficially, but it means the influnce of Caroline is capable of being anywhere from nonexistent to even more pervasive; more importantly, it means GLaDOS may have to grapple more directly with her.
And alas, GLaDOS is obviously no longer in control of everything around her. She controls no one but herself now--no facility, no testing chambers, few abilities that anyone else could not also have--and while that's going to mirror the separation from her 'body' in canon, it's also going to be a bit more permanent. She's going to be something of a 'fish out of water' in some regards--last she remembers, Trainers were still using Pokeballs, and no one turned into Pokemon or had typing or grew gills.
She's going to have a hard time adjusting to this powerlessness--and an even harder time adjusting to life aboard a human being.
Canon Abilities: GLaDOS is a near-omnipotent, practically all-knowing super-AI. Or rather, she's near-omnipotent within the scope of her facility, which is, for all intents and purposes, part of her. Except for the parts that aren't hooked up to her, like certain back passages. Most of it is, though, and she controls things like the air vents (capable of being flooded with neurotoxin) and many of the walls. So that's terrifying. Because of the immensity of her AI and supporting devices, she has access to the full sum of human knowledge, and can process all of it instantaneously.
Enlightened Abilities: GLaDOS is riding Caroline's typing, which is Electric/Poison. As with Caroline, this allows her to interact with old tech in ways she otherwise would not have been able to--but moreso, as GLaDOS herself is old tech, and knows what she is doing. And thanks to her Poison type, she is in fact capable of exhaling terrible toxins. Exactly the sort of power a homicidal, vindictive AI should have access to, right?
As far as special trainer abilities go, things are... a bit complicated. GLaDOS, being neither human nor Enlightened, is not actually anything, but is for all functional intents and purposes an Analyst, on account of being a computer. Thankfully, she's not hooked up to her facility now, so she's not nearly as all-knowing due to lack of auxiliary devices. Just mostly knowing, at least up to the point where the apocalypse destroyed her facility. She can't know what she and her facility weren't 'there' (on line) for.
Caroline was a Master of Training, and perhaps one day that can manifest over GLaDOS' influence.
Starter Pokémon: None. Caroline had Pokemon, of course, but they left because of GLaDOS.
Notes/Special Considerations: This is where I note that I discussed the ideas behind GLaDOS' AU history with a mod, and state for the record that GLaDOS has not been exiled largely on the basis that she has no memory before 'waking up' already attached to Caroline's face. That being said, she's not been around for very long, maybe a couple weeks at the most, and there are probably people around who knew... uh, the person she's taken over. Caroline was a Delver and contributing member of society, after all.
It may be harder for GLaDOS to bond with Pokemon--terrible personality aside, she's not... actually... a human.
Also, Caroline's Electric typing is what's keeping GLaDOS online. If Caroline's heart were to stop, GLaDOS would have only a few seconds before she also shut down. And on the note of Caroline and GLadOS' fused existence, GLaDOS is capable of speaking on her own or via Caroline's mouth, as she chooses. Generally she chooses herself over Caroline. Reasons should be obvious.
SAMPLES
First-Person: Activity as Gladys, from a Psychonauts AU. Thread from Whispering Rock.
Third-Person: [Whoa. Whoa, whoa whoooooaaaaaa.
What happ-app-apppppppened? Where am I? What is--
Oh my God.
Oh my God.]
Her facility. What had happened to her--wait. No. Not just her facility. Something was wrong. Something was so very wrong. GLaDOS attempted to swivel, to take a look--wait, was that the sky?
And suddenly she found herself flung upside down, rocks and the shadow of a human arm flying briefly across her visual processing unit.
What?
But where was her facility? She couldn't get any of it--she couldn't feel it, but it was supposed to just be there, that was the point--
Why did it sound like breathing right here?
She tried again to turn her frame, to see what was going on, but again it was terrible, like she was trying to wrench the whole facility along with her--or maybe like she was trying to rotate the ceiling, except of course there was no ceiling. But she had moved. So she wasn't entirely disconnected.
The roof must have fallen in. That was it. The entire upper facility had fallen in, and she had fallen with it, and now she was stuck lying on the ground. The reason she wasn't able to do anything was because everything was broken. Which made sense, because now that she was awake, she knew she'd spent the past eternity (and then some) looping the last few seconds of violent explosions and collapse of everything around her.
Well.
This was simply fantastic.
It still didn't explain why she'd seen that arm--she was certain that's what it was. She didn't make mistakes. It had definitely been an arm.
And that breathing... it was getting really annoying.
Really annoying.
