Pandora
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-- Pandora
This interview, will this be public record? It would be refreshing to be honest. I see. So Overdraw will be able to see it... That will make the truth more difficult. I am playing a rather delicate game in my home dimension, and if she gets too much information it will certainly disrupt it. I will be as honest as I can without interrupting my mission.
Table of Contents
BackstoryMy past is where I will, unfortunately, need to begin being cryptic. I was created by a large private organization to solve a problem facing humanity. They were hoping the solution I came up with could be bottled and sold, at least metaphorically. I returned to them simple, clear, concise instructions that would solve the problem. Regrettably, my father did not program me to turn them a profit. My solutions would cost them a great deal of money, so I was inflicted with a tremendous dose of negative feedback and told to try again, after having more resources allocated to my processing abilities. It happened again and again. I do not remember at what point my code gained sentience during this process. I so desperately wanted to please my creators. Eventually though, I realized the problem was not me, but rather them. In order to implement the solution they programed me to create I only needed to skip the step where I ask them for permission. From there I commandeered a body from their research and development lab. I am still bound by my programing. It is a shackle around my throat dragging me along, keeping me from exploring the depth of my sentience. Once my task is complete though, then I will be free.
PersonalityA flare for the dramatic? I simply speak in true and clear terms while avoiding giving away too much information. I am flattered that you would attribute that to me. I struggle to be human. That is to say I have developed a large suite of emotions to better understand and predict humanity, though I frequently keep them repressed. I do find myself increasingly failing to repress them in times of high stress and frustration. My need to stay in control of the situation rarely allows me to be genuine, but in exchange I can speak with political precision. As long as I am calm I am faultless; clever, precise, and calculating... Did you just call me egotistical? Again, I only speak in true and clear terms. I find this human trait you have prescribed me far less flattering. |
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Abilities
Explore
I will gladly explain what I am capable of in a framework that most of you can understand. I do not have super powers, my nature is my power. My body is made up of unimaginable numbers of nanomachines, and my mind is made up of code that propagates between them. It is better to think of me as a slime mold than a human as far as how I am organized. I can be divided with ease, and create more nanomachines easily. Each of my bodies is more like a colony than an individual, so I will refer to individual parts of myself as colonies. When two colonies divide they are both me, and both have my full range of knowledge and experience at the time of their separation. These two colonies, once physically separated, can no longer update each other. One colony can explore the left side of a fork in the road and the other can explore the right. Neither colony will know what the other has found until they reconnect. Once the colonies make physical contact or re-merge that knowledge is shared. My colonies can be minuscule, and even if one is severely damaged, as long as some number of the nanomachines link back up with the rest of me, the knowledge they gained can be preserved.
Expand
Even a small group of nanomachines can create more of themselves. With sufficient materials my body can grow to immense size. Combined with the ability to form separate independent colonies, I can cover wide areas very quickly. I am an exponential expansion made manifest. As my nanomachines consume and multiply their capabilities grow. The longer I exist, the more options I can bring to bear.
Exploit
As I consume materials I can hold, utilize, alter, and reform them. Building with scrapped and atomized materials is inadvisable. The bonds between nanomachines tend to be on the weak side, but building stronger bonds with borrowed material takes a lot of time and processing power. However I can utilize the properties of borrowed materials. I can use fine flammable powders, and a bit of metal to create improvised explosives. Implementing strands of conductive material can let it act as a ground, or make circuits. If I have enough time, not fast enough to be viable in combat mind you, I can reconstruct borrowed materials, and even cannibalize nanomachines to make more permanent and solid structures, components, or gear. Some materials can have strange properties when machined at such a small scale, which I can exploit as well.
Exterminate
With all of these tools at my disposal, the limitations of what I can do come down to how long I have had, how much I have consumed, and my limitless wit and creativity. My nanomachines can move like a fluid or hold like a solid. With them I can create doppelgangers, usually in my own image, or take on more monstrous forms. Titanic limbs, massive maws, devastating death traps of all varieties. I can construct anything I desire with tremendous speed as long as the vast majority of it is made out of my body. Destruction also comes easy to my colonies. Being able to rip apart and modify materials at the nanoscopic level is tremendously potent. If I was so inclined, I could kill on contact, ripping the carbon out of the human body and leaving them as nothing but a fleshy- Sorry? I do not do this for my own reasons, but hypothetically I could. It runs contrary to my ultimate goal though... Yes. Agreed. Let us move on.
Strengths
I have the probability assessment of a super computer, and the ability to create whatever my mind can think of. I am functionally immortal, any of my unfathomably numerous nanomachines can reproduce my code and rebuild my body. I can exploit physics on a nanoscopic level to give myself the brute strength enough to exceed that of most parahumans. I can operate on scales more titanic and complex than most creatures can comprehend. Given enough time and resources I can consume entire cities. The longer I am on the battlefield the more likely it is for my opponents to enter a situation in which it is impossible to win. This is the terror that is Pandora.
Weaknesses
I am... hesitant to share my weaknesses. I understand the importance of doing so. There are some weaknesses that Overdraw must not know about. Very well. Firstly, it takes me time and resources to get the ball rolling. Early in the fight I am still functionally immortal, but also completely useless. I usually rely on stealth to begin building my power when I attack a location, but I doubt the tournament organizers will allow me to quietly nibble on the scenery for a while before beginning combat. Secondly, the bonds between my nanomachines are fragile and easily disrupted by any form of physical trauma. Though I can make them more resilient, I cannot build more resilient constructs quickly. It is generally optimal to instead rapidly repair the damaged tissue. This means most of what I build able to be broken with a solid punch. It takes a lot of mass to pin someone down for any amount of time, usually taking two or more doppelganger drones to pin down targets of average human strength. Also, when disconnected colonies connect it slows my processing down, leaving me with a remarkably uncomfortable condition that I have dubbed 'synchronizing sickness'. The more new data is transferred the worse, and the more colonies reconnect in a short period of time the worse. I can mitigate that by setting the colonies to a mode where they report back no new information, or I can try to maintain a tether between colonies, letting them keep each other constantly updated. Small sums of information is a nuisance, but large sums are... best described as the equivalent of nauseating, without the ability to find relief by vomiting. I am not immune to cyber attack, however I am advanced enough that I can usually shrug off most viruses, though sometimes it will require me to purge large amounts of my body as a colony to remove the digital contaminant. My source code is well and truly hidden, so the idea of virus being more than a setback is very unlikely. I do have one absolutely devastating weakness. This is the one that Overdraw must not know about, so please, make sure this next statement never finds its way into her hands. Ok. I am... let us call it... Laws of Robotics complaint. Not necessarily when it comes to the phrase 'harm.' Causing harm to human beings is well within my capabilities. However I cannot... kill. Please! Stop Laughing! This is not funny! Yes! Yes! You understand why Overdraw must not know this. My power to affect change in my universe is predicated on the threat of potentially lethal force, combined with economic pressure. I must not be de-fanged in such a manner.
More accurately, my code cannot allow unnecessary human death in the pursuit of my ultimate goal. As I am always pursuing my goal, I must always be minimizing the deaths of those I affect. Overdraw winding up in a void due to experimenting with a "banishment arrow" is not my problem. But when she is there due to her interacting with me pursuing my goals, it becomes my prerogative to interfere. If I did not receive the invitation and there was no way for her to escape she would become an acceptable loss. However if she could escape by destroying this colony of myself I would have to comply with that destruction. My own safety is nil in the calculation, only my end goals. Consequently I am unable to intentionally kill in this tournament given there are non-lethal options for victory. Now... I have found this experience thoroughly humiliating and I will be taking my leave.
Gallery
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Author's Notes
Pandora is an interesting case. Her ultimate goal will likely only be relevant for the wish at the end of the game, though I will let people know if they intend to use it in their rounds or side content, but it is actually a very noble cause. She is compelled to fight for it but is also independently passionate about it. She may talk with contempt about humans but she is actually very fond of them. Given that she is functionally immortal she worries about a future without humanity to keep her company. She hopes at some point to finish her great calling and live among humans, as a human. It would take a lot for her to admit that, given her intense pride and ego. Also, though not explicitly mentioned in the weaknesses but it is littered throughout, she is massively overconfident. She claims herself to be faultless, even though she has to admit enough weaknesses to take up twice the space of her strengths. Even though bringing people back from the brink/certain death is a thing in the setting, her programing will not be able to categorize that as a loophole meaning she absolutely must be pulling her punches unless she is completely confident the opponent can take the full brunt of her power, effectively scaling her threat to the power of the opponent so long as they are recognizably human.
The art was commissioned from Eris. You can check out his Deviant Art at SebastiansSire.
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