Maran USED to be normal. She used to be a human. Nothing special at all, genetically or physically. Mentally, well, she was a bright star among many, many others, and as a top scientist in the field of automata, she was given a prestigious research position, before the Cataclysm War. You know, before everything went to hell. For years, she was.. isolated, but happy. Consumed by her work, enjoying (entirely too much) time in the VR room when things got out of hand, and in reasonably decent contact with her family and such friends as she had outside. Had you asked any of them what she was like, the answer would have been 'Focused. VERY focused. And a bit weird. But not creepy.' Too bad the same can't be said now...
All good things come to an end, or so it is said. And, well... the world ended. Overpopulation lead to incredible energy demands, and many nations were unwilling to force changes on their citizens, to alter their way of life. The world went to war... and with forces greater than atomic weapons at their disposal, things went to hell all too quickly. The fabric of reality was torn, and more than 99.9 percent of humanity died. Many of those who survived were in installations such as the one that Maran was in when the Big Bang happened. Many were under the ocean in a test colony. Others... just got lucky. Maran was afflicted with a horribly virulent disease, and cryogenically preserved until a cure could be found.
Biological and chemical agents had been released in abundance on the world. Automata and piloted machines alike had waged bloody war across vast plains. Nuclear weapons were employed, and when these failed to do the job other agents were used. The world had become an excessively inhospitable place. Fortunately, most of the scientists who survived were inclined to do something about this, and they got to work immediately. Such technology as survived let them communicate over great distances and share their work. Great strides were made in medicine, bioengineering, and nanotechnology fields. ALL of these would be put to use in healing the world and giving humanity a second chance at life.
In the end, the scientists succeeded... partially. There were setbacks... containment failures released monsters into the world, and other creations besides. Experimental human weapon program subjects woke up to dead facilities, revived at the last moment by dying artificial intelligences. New, horrible toxins and diseases were dispersed. At the same time, though, the scientists DID accomplish their goal. Nanites were dispersed to process radioactive areas, fueled by the energy there as they cleansed the soil. New plants were crafted that processed poisonous soils, as well, and released toxins into the air. Retroviruses were created that would allow the scientists and select agents of theirs survive the horrors of the world outside, at least those that don't think and move for themselves. Toxin immunity, a sort of immortality, and various other useful effects, all were created... and a monitoring network was set up. There was just one problem...
Someone had to make sure it STAYED online. Someone had to stay inside the walls, alone, for potentially thousands of years, likely never to meet a human again, knowing that their entire life outside the walls was, literally, blown to hell. Maran was one of them... she knew what needed to be done. She had been healed by the new nanomachines and medicines they had developed, though she was still quite weak. Her body, as it was, was useless... so, she volunteered. Honestly, she was halfway drafted, but it beat being useless.
She was changed, over the course of several years, by the scientists she had lived with but never gotten to know. She was injected with a serum that ensured her flesh would endure, immune to disease, and toxin, healing swiftly from any injuries. She was implanted with various cybernetic components that would manufacture and produce more of this serum, as well as assisting with various other components she was being fitted with. One of her eyes was replaced with an augmented optical system, better able to process the monitoring input. Her right arm was replaced as well, from the elbow down, with a specialized hand containing a great many more digits, which folded neatly out of her human fingers. And, then, she was hooked into a specialized chassis, shaped like a spider's bulbous lower half, complete with legs. Said chassis contained a server, letting her retain most of her memory there while also taking over most of the processes involved in running the installation.
That was a few thousand years ago. And, well, she's different now. Her personality has changed, as well as her mannerisms. She's quiet. Withdrawn. Her speech has suffered from disuse, becoming broken and stuttered. Her skin has become pale, while her hair, formerly auburn, has become solid black. Her natural eye remains a lovely purple, but it's offset by the deep red of the cybernetic one. Her body is armored everywhere that it is not robotic, save for her face, with portions of her armor being part of her chassis, and the other bits being for decency when she's not mounted within it. Her features, though, are still recognizable, were anyone around to recognize them, and her figure, underneath all the window-dressing, IS still fairly appealing, though her legs are weaker than she would care to admit, being sealed up all the time. Still, should you meet her, she IS a gracious host... after all, when one spends thousands of years alone, one takes any company one can get.
A character from Thar Dalynl.
