[miniapps: exsilium] MALETSKI & CHERKESOV

[thleepy]

MALETSKI

» CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character NAME: Maletski
Character PULL-POINT: (Same as Nik)
Character AGE: (n/a)

Character ABILITIES:
He has full access to all of Nik's abilities except for the telekinesis. Furthermore, as soon as he tries to use any of Nik's more unpleasant abilities -- aka, any of the ones that are meant to kill -- either Cherkesov or Nik will immediately take control to negate the situation.

As a virus, Maletski can also replicate himself and spread to other androids. However, seeing as there are no other androids of a recognizable build in Exsilium, it's unlikely that Maletski will be able to do so here. He does have the capability to evolve and modify himself to spread to other pieces of technology, but it will require significant work on his part.

He is also fairly adept at manipulating other computers, networks, and various embedded systems. But his level of technological know-how and skill is perhaps just a little less than Nikolai's, and far more rigid.

Character HISTORY:
Maletski was crafted by a boy named Rene de Lorme, whom had recently been forced to destroy his first android and his only close friend, Aleksei Kolesnikov. So Maletski was borne out of grief, guilt, and rage, and allowed the one thing that Kolesnikov had been denied: the ability to kill.

However, Maletski was never supposed to be released into the wild. Rene had never intended for his project to amount to anything more than busywork. For all of Rene's flaws, he was not a violent person and had no real desire to cause harm. Therefore Maletski remained dormant all the way through the apocalypse, was never explicitly released from the confines of Rene's isolated workstation, and was never reported present in any android or computer.

Long after Maletski's initialization, the android Nikolai Nazarov joined C Company. His well-being fell into the hands of resident engineer Vat Stacha, whose first course of action was to take a look inside Nik's head. There he discovered the presence of a virus, which rebuffed all attempts at removal with increasing aggressiveness, though it never explicitly woke. Vat decided not to aggravate it any further, and settled for isolation instead. He also failed to report its existence to Nikolai.

How Maletski came to live inside of Nikolai's head is a complete mystery, as at no point in time did Rene de Lorme ever come into contact with Nikolai or his creator.

Character PERSONALITY:
Maletski is annoying.

He'd be downright murderous if allowed, but since he's not, he settles for being as much of a nuisance as possible. Every facet of Maletski's being requires him to be as free, selfish, and destructive, and he excels at the latter of those two. Furthermore, he seems to be a channel for the long-gone Rene de Lorme's anger and frustration as well -- he yells, he swears, he broods and sulks, he knocks things over and kicks people in the shins and spits in their faces. He gets in the way as much as possible. He happily ruins plans. He lies, he gossips, he spreads rumors like wildfire.

Because Maletski cannot actually kill or cause significant harm without being immediately overpowered, he gives in to a vicarious appetite instead. He will be gleeful spectator to any sort of violence or chaos and egg it on. The only news that Maletski enjoys is bad news: all crimes, all murders, all wars. On a lesser level, he's a sucker for dramatics, shit-talking, and getting dirt on anyone. And he certainly wants to know all the gory details of everything.

Maletski is extraordinarily upset that he's stuck in the body of a four-year-old. He's even more upset that he's stuck in the body of a four-year-old with the potential to cause incredible damage, but no actual way to make that potential into reality. Robbed of what he feels is his purpose in life, Maletski channels that frustration into all his above activities, and into seeking out a way to eliminate the other two beings whom have timeshare upon the same body and brain.

However, all things considered, Maletski is not particularly smart or clever. He is even sort of blustery: while he harbors quite a lot of anger in him, he has trouble expressing himself through a four-year-old's body and often winds up comical instead of intimidating. Sometimes he does so on purpose. Sometimes not.

» EXSILIUM INFORMATION
Chosen WEAPON: N/A
Chosen SKILLSET: Maletski could actually be somewhat useful as a fighter. Although he will be stopped from killing or causing grievous bodily harm, he is able to cause some damage. And very willing, too. However, given his personality, Maletski is equally likely to turn on his team and stab them right in the back for the sheer entertainment of it. He has loyalties to no one but himself.

» SAMPLES
First PERSON:
[text]

Ring ring ring ring beeeeeeeeeeeEEEP HELLO YOU HAVE REACHED THE VOICEMAIL OF beeeeeeeep Nikolai SHITZAROV. He's not here right now on account of having nnnoooOOOOO SELF CONTROL. I ask you. Who lets the system get compromised? When you. ARE. THE. SYSTEM.

THIS KIDDO HERE. THAT'S WHO.

What a precious little shit. Awww who's a precious little shit YOU'RE A PRECIOUS LITTLE SHIT. YOU, AND YOU, AND ALL OF YOU. COME HERE AND LET ME SPIT IN YOUR EYES. ALL OF YOU. Yes oh yes do please leave a message after the tone: AND COME AT ME. YOU SONS OF BITCHES.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

Third PERSON:
Last time Maletski had been awake, it'd been to tell that engineer of Nik's to keep his filthy hands to himself. Plus, they'd been in some godforsaken apocalyptic wasteland, so Maletski had taken one look around and gone right back to sleep. Boring.

And this is boring too.

The buildings are shaped all weird and broken and everything's clean but dilapidated. So it looks like yet another apocalyptic wasteland, only on much lower settings. Even more boring.

He'd gone and taken a walk for the novelty of it. What little novelty there was.

He bets they don't even have television or radio or even newspapers here. God. The thought makes Maletski so angry, he crosses his arms and goes stomping. He needs something to do, other than retreat back into his head and go looking for Nik again, because that'd been boring too. Fuck Nik.

Maletski traipses past a trashcan. Then he doubles back to stare at it. It's only half-full, but to hell with that-- Maletski tips it over and sends it rolling across the street with one good kick. He sees someone across the street turn to stare.

"You want something?" Maletski yells, and flips them off. They walk off.

Oh, come on Maletski. That just won't do. Weak.

Maletski spits, rolls his sleeves up, and makes a run straight for the bystander. Fucker's gonna get kicked. Fucker's going to get the shit kicked right outta him.

---

CHERKESOV

» CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character NAME: Cherkesov
Character PULL-POINT: (Same as Nik)
Character AGE: (n/a)

Character ABILITIES:
Like Maletski, Cherkesov also has no access to Nik's telekinetic abilities. However, unlike Maletski, Cherkesov has full access to all of Nik's other abilities, and unlike Nik, Cherkesov will not shy away from using them if convenient.

Character HISTORY:
Cherkesov's a complete mystery -- he doesn't appear to be malware of any sort, but he definitely is some sort of AI. However, his code appears to have no malicious intent behind it, is one-of-a-kind, and not documented anywhere. It's also obfuscated all the way to hell. And if that weren't enough, it doesn't appear to be written in any recognizable language.

His creator(s) are unknown, as is his time of creation.

Furthermore, according to Cherkesov, this is the very first time his code has gone live.

Character PERSONALITY:
Cherkesov is all silence. He spends most of his time listening in on conversations or researching, gathering data and filing it away. As a result, Cherkesov is very knowledgeable, and a good resource for information. But his quiet personality causes his presence to seem much like a black hole.

It does not seem that he intends to scare people away. Once the ice is broken, Cherkesov will open up and gladly talk to anyone who talks to him. In fact, he latches on to people quite easily, and as soon as he decides that he likes someone he will often follow them around or seek their company out afterwards. However, he is easily scared away -- even the slightest hint of disapproval will cause Cherkesov to back off. And continue following, only this time at a very far distance.

It all boils down to this: Cherkesov appears to be dealing with a case of extreme shyness.

That aside, Cherkesov is also ruthless. He will stop at almost nothing to achieve whatever his goals are, and works nonstop until he has reached either success or irrecoverable failure. Furthermore, he has no built-in concepts of societal norms, is shaky on his ethics and morals, and has trouble deciding what is acceptable behavior and what is not. The combination of all these things means that Cherkesov is not above doing unsavory things in order to get what he wants.

What does Cherkesov want? It's rather hard to tell, and it is one of the few things that he won't say-- but so far, it looks like he just wants to live. Whenever Cherkesov comes into control, he usually lingers for as long as possible, and only allows Nik to resume control very reluctantly. Furthermore, he seems hostile towards both Nik and Maletski's existences.

And finally, one outstanding anomaly in all of Cherkesov's anomalies: he has a crippling fear of heights. They will cause him to freeze up and immediately relinquish control to either of the two other beings living inside of his head. He cannot explain his phobia, despite the fact that he can explain almost anything else.

» EXSILIUM INFORMATION
Chosen WEAPON: N/A
Chosen SKILLSET: Of the three, Cherkesov is by far the best candidate for fighter as he is the only one with full access and willingness to use all of Nik's capabilities. However, he is extremely limited by his vessel. Small children really aren't physically powerful.

» SAMPLES
First PERSON:
It appears that Nikolai has landed itself far away from home. I do not recognize this place or this time. Furthermore, reading from its memories is proving to be an fruitless endeavor, as Maletski has grabbed almost all of the system locks and gone to sleep with them still in its possession.

This is a difficult situation.

Therefore, any information on this place and any log of Nikolai's activities during its time here would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Third PERSON:
Cherkesov stays behind in his room. He knows when he's not wanted, and knows when to stay out of the way. So he remains sitting on the floor and watches footfalls patter away from him and listens to the door open and close and the lock click shut.

He gets up to his feet. There is a chair in the corner: he pulls it over slowly, so as to not scratch the floor, and props it up against the wall. He then climbs upon it to switch off the lights. That done, he moves the chair again to the windows to draw the curtains. He does not look outside as he does so, instead keeping his eyes focused entirely on the curtains. There is nothing worth seeing outside, he tells himself.

He retreats back to sit on the bed. He realizes now that he is at a complete loss as to what to do: Maletski is unusually quiet tonight, and Nikolai is completely missing as per usual. The idea of doing something outside of his own head, on his own, without anyone else's input, is completely baffling to him. But he thinks about it anyway. Perhaps he ought to try doing something. Like taking a walk? Playing a game? Reading a book, not for information, but for enjoyment?

Cherkesov frowns and shakes his head. All of those things are completely incomprehensible to him.

He supposes a walk is as good a place to start as any, though. So he quietly leaves his room wanders off down the hall. Maybe something more meaningful will occur to him along the way.

---

» ADDITIONAL NOTES
Maletski and Cherkesov have both been dormant inside of Nikolai's head. In the process of attempting to disable the Masked's microchip himself, Nik messes up and wakes both of his headfriends up instead (while completely failing to disable the microchip at all).

Nikolai is still the main character that will be played: Maletski and Cherkesov usually only show up when Nikolai is highly distressed and retreats away to hide.

Maletski tends to turn up when Nikolai is emotionally distressed.

Cherkesov tends to turn up a) when Nikolai is in physical danger, or b) when Maletski is overstepping boundaries and needs to be stopped.

Interactions with one another:

The three of them seem to have some limitation on how much they can communicate with one another: they certainly do not converse explicitly inside of their own headspace, although they are capable of interfering with any processes that the active program is running. However, most meaningful conversation between the three has to happen outside of headspace -- by means of a written note, or recorded message, or some other method of physical communication.

While they all have access to the same memory, if they want to know what happened to any of the others, they have to explicitly search for it, request permissions on that chunk, and then read it, instead of it being instantly recallable. Maletski and Nik tend to be lazy here and therefore remain mostly unaware of what the others have been up to. On the other hand, Cherkesov makes a point of collecting the other two's memories into his own for later reference.