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[RFC] Jessica 'Jess' Ayanami
09-12-2008, 05:42 AM
For a while now I've been thinking about how I'm going to be staffing such a large installation as The Roughrider base on 36 Atalante. Intitially, I
had been inspired by Dee, one of the AIs of the VVS. While the idea had merit, I didn't want to look like I was carbon-copying the idea. Then, I thought,
"What if it was a biomod?" After all, with handwavium, nearly anything is possible...
Jess was a girl that despised being part of a wealthy family living along the Golden Coast. Sure, the vacations were fantastic and she did love her parents
very much, but the lifestyle just was not her speed.
Like many fen, Jess loved anime and especially loved to cosplay as Rei Ayanami of Neon Genesis Evangelion. When she got the first chance, she handwaved her
car, a surprisingly mundane Dodge Neon, and high-tailed it to Kandor. One she was in the company of the fen, she began to experiment with Handwavium as an
occupation and cosplay as a hobby, with Rei still being her perinial favorite.
Eventually, she began an experiment to create a new strain of handwavium - one that would enable the mass-production of bio-androids to provide staff for large
operations. At one point in the process, she forgot she was supposed to be at a cosplay competition and was going as... You guessed it, Rei Ayanami, and she
pulled out all the stops this time. Of course, Murphy's Law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Some sloppy house-keeping had been the
cause of the mis-step that landed her in the vat full of her experimental handwavium. With no one around to provide assistance, the Handwavium was left to its
own devices and the next day, Jess woke up nearly smothered in... Herself?
The Handwavium had done more or less as she thought it would and when provided with a single model that it saw as unfinished, perfected it and made as many
copies as it could (the handwavium strain came with all the basic chemical building blocks that was needed). In short, Jessica had one-hundered copies of
herself as Rei Ayanami.
Confusion came quick as the copies of herself did everything that she did. Since the handwavium had Rei as a template, all the copies were tied together in
some hither-to-unknown form of telepathy. As she tried to sort -that- out, she soon discovered that the temporary hair die and contact lenses were no longer
temporary.
It took a few weeks and the help of many, both from professionals and from her friends, before she got herself sorted out. Seeing the dangerous nature of such
a handwavium strain, she discontinued her research into the matter and focused instead on providing her services as temporary staffing. However, once
Operation: Great Justice got underway, she soon decided that her abilities would be best put to use among one of the Factions better suited against the
Boskonian Threat, but lacking in manpower for their facilities. It didn't take long for her to leanr about the Roughriders as Benjamin had come to Kandor
to recruit in person.
Jessica 'Jess' Ayanami
Biomod: 101 "Rei Clones''
Quirks:
- Teamwork among a group of clones is best achieved when they're wearing a uniform of any sort, but for absolute top performance a
'plug suit' or a Japanese school uniform is best suited.
- Intense physical and emotional reactions can disrupt her multitasking capabilities. Needless to say that certain nocturnal activities have
caused some remarkable disruptions on the job.
Trivia:- Capable of AI-like processing capabilities by using all the available processing power of her 'clones.'
- In order to keep medical records of the clones, they're all numbered from zero to one-hundred.
- Serves as The Roughriders' Honor Guard with coordination that rivals the US Marine Corp's Silent Drill Platoon.
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Falling into a tank of Handwavium is interesting, isn't it? We're gonna need safety standards soon.
My main problem with this is the telepathy angle. Fortunately, your concept comes with a ready made solution.
The A10 clips.
When Jess has them on the others work normally. When Jess has them off, the clones are like golems in that they just do whatever the last order from Jess was.
What happens when the CLONES don't have their A10 clips on is another matter entirely...
EDIT: And I forgot to mention this, but there is a certain amount of comedy inherent in this concept, given that Greenwood has at least one Rei already.
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Quote:In order to keep medical records of the clones, they're all numbered from zero to one-hundred.
In Japanese? Because that would make the first one "Rei"... and the first ten or so might upset folks who hate NXE...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Hmmm... Could pose for some interesting things. It'd provide a good work around for that quirk of all the other clones reacting if she had a hot and steamy kiss with someone (not Benjamin - Gina would kill him ).
I was thinking originally that the A10 clips would be like Gina's - hard-mounted to her skull and an integral part of her nervous system. But the other idea has merit, too.
Oh, the comedy has endless potential! And I forgot that Greenwood has Rei's already for their staff. D'OH!!! :x
Well... If the others have no problem with it... Gina is going to freak out, get very angry, then get very nervous until she settles into her comfort zone with Jess, because not only is she just like Rei with a decent personality, but she's got the whole duplicate doll thing going. That above all just plain weirds her out. That and I can hardly wait until Jess hits it off with one of the other Roughriders and we have scenes like this one...
Quote:Suddenly, Jess froze in mid-sentence, her moon-white skin suddenly turning a flourid red.
Benjamin raised an eyebrow and said, "You forgot your A10 clips again, didn't you?"
"Gah! Yes! I'msososorryIpromiseitwillneverhappenagainIswearit!!!"
Gina gave Ben a horrified look. "I am -never- getting any extra bodies made for me."
As for what happens after an extended period of time off of the A10's? Well, I think it would be a lot like when the Tachikoma's synchronise with each other constantly in Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2nd Gig. The original persona will reassert itself while the experiences become amalgamated into the collective... You know, 'Collective' actually sounds like a good name for her Biomod.
Yes, they'll be numbered in Japanese because Jess is a bit of a Japanophile. And if the NXE haters out there don't like it, then they'll just have to deal. It's just to make it easier to keep official track of her clones - they'll all answer to 'Jessica' or just 'Jess.'
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Hmmmmm...
Somebody already established that conservation of matter holds for biomods, so where did one hundred bodies worth of organic mass come from? (Not an insurmountable problem, just an awkward one.)
As for the Greenwood Reis, I don't see a problem. There's no reason why there couldn't be more than one hundred of them... or more than two hundred, for that matter. If Fenspace starts drowning in Reis, though, then we've got a failure to imagine.
Definitely have the "telepathy" work through the A10 clips. And I'd also suggest they only work for Jessica. If anyone can use them, that would change Fenspace in ways I doubt we're ready to explore yet. This would provide a way to distinguish the Jessica Reis from the Greenwood Reis, too; if removing the A10 clip doesn't change her behaviour, she's from Greenwood.
(So, how long until one of them cosplays as Rei Hino, or Ray Amuro, or Ray Stantz? )
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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Quote: Somebody already established that conservation of matter holds for biomods, so where did one hundred bodies worth of organic mass come from? (Not an
insurmountable problem, just an awkward one.)
As I mentioned, the Handwavium strain she was working on already had all the basic chemical building blocks to build away. In short, it came with
it's own supply of organic matter and continued to make clones until it was all used up.
Quote: Definitely have the "telepathy" work through the A10 clips. And I'd also suggest they only work for Jessica. If anyone can use them, that would
change Fenspace in ways I doubt we're ready to explore yet. This would provide a way to distinguish the Jessica Reis from the Greenwood Reis, too; if
removing the A10 clip doesn't change her behaviour, she's from Greenwood.
Well, Jess wouldn't be reacting any differently once you remove the clips. Thing to remember is that like Dee, any one of her clones is just
as good as the original. In fact, Jess herself isn't even sure which one of her is the original - she just picked number 'Rei' at random. Number
Rei isn't even her prime delegate - whichever one happens to be available will make her reports to Gina or Benjamin. You see, the nature of this beast is
pretty much like an insect colony. One worker is interchangeable with another. You call for Jess, number forty-two is just as likely to answer as Rei would
simply because she can be spared at the moment, and she wouldn't behave any different from the others at all, with or without A10 clips on.
The only time you'd see any notable differences in behavior would be if one of her went for a couple of months without getting back in touch with the
Collective, and then that'll change once she does - what lone Jess has experienced is assimilated into the Jess Collective. Chances are pretty good that
whatever happened, though, isn't totally drowned out. In fact, if something that a Lone Jess has experienced is earth-shaking enough, then you're
gonna notice it when she rejoins the collective as all the rest of them are gonna have the same experience in the blink of an eye. Fortunately, if the Lone
Jess has been able to cope with it, then the shock won't last more than a few seconds and it's usually back to business afterwards. Unless of course
it's something like critical inteligence that needs immediate attention - then you'll see a Think Tank Team of Jesses immediately assemble in a
breifing room, with Ben, Gina, and a few other critical personnel getting paged to join them.
Heh... for what it's worth, doesn't feel like a carbon copy at all. I see the parallel but, well, if I can dig out enough time to get some stuff out
of my head and onto electrons... you'll see. As Mal commented once, Dee's not anthropomorphic in thinking; she can pretend to be but she's not.
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Quote:And I forgot that Greenwood has Rei's already for their staff. D'OH!!!
Enh, don't freak about it. I always figured there'd be overlap in one way or another. In fact, I was kinda counting on it for background humor.
("Welcome to the 2nd Annual Fenspace Ayanami Conference! All Ayanamis Welcome!")
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
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Quote: M_Fnord said on 09/12/08 12:18 PM:
Enh, don't freak about it. I always figured there'd be overlap in one way or another. In fact, I was kinda counting on it for background humor.
("Welcome to the 2nd Annual Fenspace Ayanami Conference! All Ayanamis Welcome!")
*Giggles insanely* That'll definitely weird out Gina.
Quote: KJ said on 09/12/08 12:02 PM:
As Mal commented once, Dee's not anthropomorphic in thinking; she can pretend to be but she's not.
Eh? That kinda flew over my head. Can you elaborate, please?
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I know Fenspace isn't Gritty!Dark, but the first thing that came to mind?
Ahgahd, CLONE WARS!
So I'm glad to see that wasn't the concept you went with, heh.
On that train -- but with the destination somewhere other than Dystopia-ville -- I can easily see a Mad Scientist Type (evil or just whackjob) trying to get
ahold of a Jess or three so he can figure out how to replicate her particular biomod mix in order to create HIS MINION ARMY! MWUAH HAH HAH!
Foiling him repeatedly and in hopefully embarrassing and/or humiliating fashion could be entertaining.
--sofaspud
-- "Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
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Quote:("Welcome to the 2nd Annual Fenspace Ayanami Conference! All Ayanamis Welcome!")
I suppose that could be mentioned in Legend of Galactic Girls...
"No, Rei, we don't have time to stop - we need to get to Ganymede right now. We're already given the zwilnicks too much of a lead on us."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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Quote: M Fnord wrote:
("Welcome to the 2nd Annual Fenspace Ayanami Conference! All Ayanamis Welcome!")
Cavalier Concerts Presents "A Chorus Line!" Starring the All-Ayanami Review!
(Admit it, a line of Reis, singing "One Singular Sensation," all in deadpan, is pretty funny.)
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com
"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
Quote: blackaeronaut wrote:
Quote: KJ said on 09/12/08 12:02 PM:
As Mal commented once, Dee's not anthropomorphic in thinking; she can pretend to be but she's not.
Eh? That kinda flew over my head. Can you elaborate, please?
Well, it seems most of the AIs in fenspace are either tied to ships and pretty satisfied to stay that way, or there's various androids. Dee started out as
a hopped up pocket pc thingie, then started expanding her own capabilities and reoptimizing her code along the way; she started building bodies too, but that
more for an interface with humanity than any real need. A subroutine pretends to act human even with the multiplicity - heck, a lot of that, with the massive
numbers of miniatures, is probably calculated to look cute/zany enough that people don't worry - but she doesn't think like a human, and Eris knows
what her goals are, or why she does anything she does.
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Quote: Sofaspud said on 09/12/08 02:53 PM:
On that train -- but with the destination somewhere other than Dystopia-ville -- I can easily see a Mad Scientist Type (evil or just whackjob) trying to get
ahold of a Jess or three so he can figure out how to replicate her particular biomod mix in order to create HIS MINION ARMY! MWUAH HAH HAH!
Foiling him repeatedly and in hopefully embarrassing and/or humiliating fashion could be entertaining.
Heh-heh-heh. This is very do-able. For one thing, Benjamin associates closely to The Professor, so he's ver familiar with Mad Science
Disorder. That, and he also has his own little band of not-so-mad fen-kinder scientists that can provide their own assistance and expertise.
Quote: robkelk said on 09/12/08 05:31 PM:
Quote: M_Fnord said on 09/12/08 12:18 PM:
("Welcome to the 2nd Annual Fenspace Ayanami Conference! All Ayanamis Welcome!")
I suppose that could be mentioned in Legend of Galactic Girls...
"No, Rei, we don't have time to stop - we need to get to Ganymede right now. We're already given the zwilnicks too much of a lead on
us."
Actually, at an event like that in the middle of O:GJ, only one Jess would attend. The rest would be back at Home Base doing what they do best -
be everywhere they can be at once. Oh, and Ganymede? *Grins evilly* That does mean a crossing of the belt, right?
"Roughrider Central to CV/B-001-RGR Tough Love, be advised of Zwilnik activity in your area. Also be advised that the Epsilon Blade may
be hot on their tails. I don't think I need to remind you wonderful young ladies what you need to do."
Meet The Roughrider's Senshi and their main ride, Peacemaker Class Carrier/Bomber Tough Love.
Quote: Ebonysaid on 09/12/08 06:22 PM:
Cavalier Concerts Presents "A Chorus Line!" Starring the All-Ayanami Review!
(Admit it, a line of Reis, singing "One Singular Sensation," all in deadpan, is pretty funny.)
Oh hell yeah. Jess is gonna be all over that one just to see the expression on Ben and Gina's faces.
Quote: KJ said on 09/12/08 10:10 PM:
Well, it seems most of the AIs in fenspace are either tied to ships and pretty satisfied to stay that way, or there's various androids. Dee started out
as a hopped up pocket pc thingie, then started expanding her own capabilities and reoptimizing her code along the way; she started building bodies too, but
that more for an interface with humanity than any real need. A subroutine pretends to act human even with the multiplicity - heck, a lot of that, with the
massive numbers of miniatures, is probably calculated to look cute/zany enough that people don't worry - but she doesn't think like a human, and Eris
knows what her goals are, or why she does anything she does.
Oh, okay. I see what you mean now. Nah, in Jess's case, she started out human, and so in essence so're all her clones - there's no
loss of humanity in Jess's case at all, just a massive ability to be in more than one place at once. She can even sleep in shifts!
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Quote:Actually, at an event like that in the middle of O:GJ, only one Jess would attend. The rest would be back at Home Base doing what they do best - be everywhere they can be at once. Oh, and Ganymede? *Grins evilly* That does mean a crossing of the belt, right?
Yep. It's too bad that the planetary configuration as of May-June 2013 won't allow a side-trip to Mars, but what can you do? (Pluto-Earth-Venus-Jupiter are almost in a straight line, in that order; Mars isn't really close to that line. Stupid orbital mechanics...)
Quote:"Roughrider Central to CV/B-001-RGR Tough Love, be advised of Zwilnik activity in your area. Also be advised that the Epsilon Blade may be hot on their tails. I don't think I need to remind you wonderful young ladies what you need to do."
Actually, the current plan (subject to change according to what everyone else suggests for the Belt crossing) would be closer to this:
"Roughrider Central to CV/B-001-RGR Tough Love, be advised of Zwilnik activity in your area, with the Epsilon Blade and the Ptichka hot on their tails. The Epsilon Blade has requested assistance in escorting the Pinafore through the Zwilnick activity to Hephaestus. Be advised that Pinafore has taken damage and is carrying civilians. I don't think I need to remind you wonderful young ladies what you need to do."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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Quote: Corcoran's mouth drew into a tight line. "Regrettably, my dear comrades, this situation calls for a less.... Thalian melody. I do hope you will pardon me, Buttercup, if I ask for the backing track for the intermezzo from 'Bohemian Rhapsody?'"
-Sure Thing, Captain!- the ship's AI chirped. -A little change never hurt anyone!-
The ship's speakers began the piano cue, and the Captain sang:
"I see a lit-tle Zwil-nik Squad-ron on the right!
Hard to PORT! Hard to PORT!
Activate our full thrus-ters!
Thunderbolts and lightning!
Others do our FIGHTING, please!
Mad evasion! (Mad evasion!)
Mad evasion! (Mad evasion!)
Mad evasion as you go!
Here we go-o-o-o!
We're just a tour ship and caught in a war zone!
(We're just a tour ship from a far fennish home!)
Spare us our lives from this monstrosity!
Here they come, there we go! Will they let us go?
(Dismal-ly, NO! They will not let us go!){LET US GO!}
(Dismal-ly, They will not let us go!){LET US GO!}
(Dismal-ly, They will not let us go!){LET US GO!}
(Will not let us go!)Let us go!
(Will not let us go!)Let us go!
No, no, no, etc.
Mamma mia! Mamma mia! They've got to let us go!
Dear BUT-tercup, we've got to get our Passengers free!
Get them free!
Get them FREEEE!"
The evasive maneuvers brought about by the song allowed the FeZigs to slip between the Pinafore and the pursuing Boskonians just as the backing music entered the "Wayne's World Headbang."
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
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Oh, please don't do that while I'm drinking something!
Okay that's officially this week's "Made of Win and Love" prize.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Saving the thread to the LoGG workfile...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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*Snorts-giggles-laughs-headesk*
That. Is. Awesome.
One other little thing. The flight engineers onboard the Tough Love should be able to patch up the major damage to the Pinafore. It's part of their job to handle repairs like that since the larger, slower Peacemakers are likely to catch an odd round here and there.
Also, the Midnight and Pegasus will probably get scrambled as well. That big of a clusterfuck in Ben's neighborhood does not go unanswered and Ben will want to know who the hell those Zwilniks are and who's base is gonna get blasted back into the stone age.
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Even funnier... if Corcoran is broadcasting in the clear, or at least across part of the OGJ tacnet. >:3
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
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"Sound Goldfish Warning!"
Mmm.... now that I think of it, I'd be surprised if there weren't goldfish warnings in Fenspace during OGJ...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
*grin* One can always hope. My personal preferences for Goldfish Warnings/fight music would be Heather Alexander's "March of Cambreadth" or Cats
Laughing's "For It All."
*snicker* On the other hand....for ANNOYING Goldfish Warnings, my money is on "Don't Make Me Wild Like You", the Ranma 1/2 opening theme. Aka the
"Ya-pa-pa" song. Play that a few thousand times non-stop over the Boskonians' speakers, and they'll be BEGGING to be allowed to surrender...
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Quote: Bob Schroeck wrote:
"Sound Goldfish Warning!"
Mmm.... now that I think of it, I'd be surprised if there weren't goldfish warnings in Fenspace during OGJ...
Oh hells yeah! Bob, you've read my mind. I've been thinking about doing Goldfish Warnings, but I wanted to make it a surprise. Ahh
well, cat's out of the bag now. In the case of Midnight her GW's are gonna be her 'power songs'. In the case of fighting
Boskonians... U2's Vertigo, which will disorient all other piloits in the area of affect. For Doug, I'd imagine this would be the equivilant of a
song that casts a confusion spell for him. ^_^
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Quote:"Sound Goldfish Warning!"
You realize, of course, that some Humorist will play with this idea...
Suddenly a claxon sounded throughout the ship. "What the...?"
"Someone brought an ornamental carp aboard."
"You mean...?"
"Yes - that's the goldfish warning."
" Can I kill you now?"
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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*Giggles* That would probably be an interaction between Jess and Gina. Jess loves to yank her chain, and Gina won't admit it, but she loves the opportunity
for 'friendly' sniping at her coworker(s).
ETA: When they start going at it, Benjamin will eventually collapse into a puddle of helpless giggles, at which point the two will actually grin and each other
and finish him with a time honored line from EPU's Hopelessly Lost:
Quote: "Hey, Gina, I think we broke him."
"That we did. But really, I mean gee, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you laugh if your head exploded? No...I guess you wouldn't. I would."
At which point Benjamin usually needs medical attantion.
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