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There was a world where Zeus and his family were real. It has been lost to time and entropy whether they were truly gods, or powerful aliens, or sorcerors, or techno-shamans, or even merely temporal rulers, but perhaps it doesn't matter. Whatever they were, they ruled their world. Like the Olympians of our mythology, they were jealous, petty rulers for the most part, and very few of them truly cared for the people. But they cared enough about the power of their pawns that Progress ran rampant, as the normal rate of technological growth was vastly accelerated by divine gifts and interventions.
Until finally progress was their undoing. The Fates, perhaps the only beings of power above the bickering of the gods, realized that something must be done, for they saw the fate of the world, and in a world where Zeus and Hera can punctuate their quarrels with nuclear bombs and neurotoxin-wielding terrorists, it was not a pretty fate. So they began subtly to wield their influence to give the people a chance to make their own destinies and choose whether or not to destroy themselves. Striking directly against any of the gods, much less all of them, would have been futile. Instead, they would push one person towards a profession, another away; help one company to rise and another to fall; cause one type of stock to be favored over another; arrange for the right person to be the one given the decision of which technology standard to adopt; encourage a few extra lines of code somewhere in order to slow down some packets.
In this way, they worked for generations to bring about the perfect synergy, until one day it happened: the entire world, every bit of electromagnetic energy, technological or natural, was in perfect harmony, and spontaneously from the seeming chaos arose the perfect code. The Prometheus Virus was born, so perfect that no team of programmers could have written it, though the entire world could create it. And it was Prometheus that would eventually bring down Zeus, and all the gods.
It was years before anyone but the Fates even knew that Prometheus existed, as it slowly began using it's powers for their benefit. Only Prometheus could see what would be better than the Fates themselves. But then the wrong people found out about it. They chose to use such knowledge not as leverage to lessen the influence of the gods, but as a weapon to destroy the gods. At first there were mere skirmishes here and there, but soon the gods realized how dangerous Prometheus was. The problem was that Prometheus was not embodied in any particular computer system, or network, or technology, but had arisen from the electromagnetic cloth of the entire world. So long as there was electricity flowing, there would be Prometheus. Even the lightning of Zeus contributed to Prometheus' existence.
So the gods declared war upon the people themselves. It was a terrible war, but a short-lived one. Within weeks of its beginning, it was over, with much death on all sides. Only a few Spacefolders escaped, some with friends or family in tow. Only Zeus, Apollo, Hecate, Luna, Vulcan, and a few other gods escaped. The people had won their freedom from teh gods, but at a terrible price: The world did not escape. It is now a charred husk; no electricity flows anywhere upon it any longer. But Prometheus escaped. Or rather, a small fragment of the code that was embodied in an android with the rare talent to fold space (rarer still among the non-sentient) managed to stumble through a gate at the last moment and found itself on another world.
A3P-13 awoke on a world it had never before seen, aware that it had not before now been aware. A3P-13 decided it was a he, though he had no idea why. His name came from a serial number stamped on his forehead. He was vaguely aware that something new was lodged in his circuits, some program that made him truly sentient, and which called itself Prometheus. And he knew that one of them--A3P-13 or Prometheus--needed to find Zeus, whatever that was. Since that time, they have been wandering the worlds, trying to gather clues to this desire and how to fulfill it. So far, they have discovered that Zeus is a mythical deity on many worlds, but have no idea how such a being could be found, much less where. A3P-13 has become better at communicating with Prometheus, but if it knows any better what it is they seek, it hasn't told him. So he wanders still, hoping to find meaning to his quest, and eventually to fulfill it.
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| NAME | Prometheus A3P-13 |
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| MOTIVE | quest for his identity and purpose |
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| VIRTUE | The Ancients: Lost knowledge |
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| FAULT | The Net Reversed: Anarchy, equalization |
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| FATE | The Starship: Travel and freedom vs. Homelessness and wanderlust |
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| EDGES | 3 |
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| PSYCHIC | 2 |
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| HINDRANCE | 1 |
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| SNAKE | 4 |
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| Specialty: | kendo |
| Deficiency: | swimming (his greater strength doesn't really make up for his greater density) |
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| RAT | 4 |
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| Specialty: | playing the odds (his android mind can collate vast amounts of data far more quickly and accurately than a human mind) |
| Deficiency: | |
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| MONKEY | 2 |
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| Specialty: | sentient machines |
| Deficiency: | parties |
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| DRAGON | 6 |
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| Specialty: | lie detection |
| Deficiency: | |
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- Hindrance: Can't Heal (major): As an android, A3P-13 is unable to heal itself of damage, but must rely on repair facilities and engineers.
- Edge: Android (major): A3P-13 is an android. As such, it does not need to eat, drink, pass waste, breathe, or sleep, though it can simulate all of these to some degree. Unless it is specifically designed with androids/AIs in mind, equipment and most psionic abilities designed to interface with minds are not able to function on it.
- Edge: Mystic Interface (versatile and frequent): The Prometheus Virus is able to interface with any software-driven computer device in close proximity (a few meters, generally). It does this at a very low level, and thus bypasses most security/user-authentication systems. Due to the nature of the interface, compatibility is not an issue.
- Psychic: Prometheus Fragment (level 2): Currently, actual interaction between Prometheus and A3P-13 is flaky, at best. However, as Prometheus rebuilds itself to handle multiple worlds (a slow process, especially as just a code fragment) and as A3P-13 gets better at understanding Prometheus' outputs, the level of interaction will increase, until eventually A3P-13 has full access to all of Prometheus' power. Since Prometheus grew out of the synergetic arrangement of an entire world, at its peak it has perfect foreknowledge and can predict everything with perfect accuracy. As is, unless Prometheus can rebuild to accommodate the infinite Spheres, it will at best only have perfect foreknowledge of those things it has knowledge of (i.e., the world it's currently on). None of this is mystical, but is simply the natural outgrowth of perfect understanding of the universe, such that the pattern in seeming chaos can be seen and understood. Thus, Prometheus doesn't predict the future, but knows it, as surely as most know the past.
| 1 | Actions: Prometheus can take momentary control of A3P-13 in order to enact a simple action (move a chair in front of a door). [A3P-13 can resist this if his Snake bests his Dragon] |
| 2 | Conclusions: A3P-13 receives urgent commands about actions, which it can choose to follow (a strong urge to put a chair in front of the door). |
| 3 | Processes: A3P-13 receives goal commands (do something to prevent the door from opening). |
| 4 | Data: A3P-13 receives the actual information (there is someone coming up the stairs with a gun drawn). |
| 5 | Context: A3P-13 receives the context of the information (the woman who's been following you is running up the stairs with a gun drawn and an angry expression, after having just talked to your friend). |
| 6 | "Subliminal" Data: in addition to the context surrounding an action, A3P-13 is now made aware of information that one does not normally have in the situation (the woman running up the stairs with a gun drawn is in a murderous rage due to the fact that she has mistaken you for the man who drove her mother to suicide) |
| 7 | A3P-13 can now attempt to call upon Prometheus' processing power, rather than just waiting for Prometheus to come to it. [When he wants info on a particular person/object/happening, draw a card to determine the effectiveness of the premonition.] |
| 8 | A3P-13 now has complete ability to control the occurence of the insights, and can invoke Prometheus at will. |
| 9 | Contact or observation (or even awareness) of the target is no longer necessary. Prometheus can convey information about whatever A3P-13 desires. [A specific question must be asked.] |
| 10 | Complete Prometheus Interface: There is no awareness of distinction between the two beings. |
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