retired Domino - Skill-Monkey / Stabby Type

[Roughtrade]

Yeah, and the Private From works too.  But I also find them unwieldy.  

[Wiz]

It has been a busy day for me, just back to my computer now.  Give me some time to read this and I will talk with you. 🙂

[Roughtrade]

No hurry

[Wiz]

It's not hurry, it's actually coming together quite nicely.  Your presence in Val's story is helping me identify a lot of her motivations. 🙂

[Wiz]

Potential Backstory:

 

Khonnir Baine brought Val at age 2 to the town of Torch in order to hide from the Technic League.  Val grew up, not knowing that she was adopted or the story behind that, but noticed that her father always seemed wary of strangers and careful about telling anyone anything.  As she grew, they were a family to each other, though her father was heavily involved in his work and somewhat secretive. Val realized along the way that there were some things about her that seemed different from others, and she learned to be wary and conceal these differences, often even from her own father - so as not to worry him.  Val seemed to have growth related issues, and always was on the shorter side and always physically weaker, she also often acted without common sense and had to be taught to think everything through, leading her to became stunted socially.  Khonnir was her father, but also her teacher; under his tutelage she learned some magic, some alchemy, and a lot of how to use her mind.  

 

When Val was 10, Khonnir brought home another girl named Domino.  Val was confused because there were many strange things about Domino; she was obviously older than Val, but she acted younger.  Domino seemed even more emotionless than Val was and prone to similar problems with a lack of common sense.  Strangely, though it might seem that they would not get along, they did so extremely well because they were so similar.  They knew that the other would not look down on them for their many strange behaviors and so became very close.  It was like they got each other, so they didn't need anyone else, and the development of their social skills atrophied further.

 

Val was still growing slowly and by the time she turned 14 and Domino looked like a young adult still, yet there was still no jealousy.  The two were like peas in a pod, communicating in subtle ways that others didn't pick up, almost like they were twins who didn't look anything like each other.  Val continued learning magic and alchemy and logic with Khonnir, but began to branch out to studying healing, because the local Doctor, Patir Devir, was impressed how Val was so cool-headed when she broke her arm and was taken to him for treatment.  Val applied her logical precision to assisting the Doctor, and quickly became his most praised apprentice. 

 

Khonnir was probably worried about the girls' socialization when he began taking them out on family nights to the local tavern in Torch.  Here, the girls definitely began to diverge more.  Val seemed just as withdrawn as always, but Domino became much more outgoing as she discovered gambling, music, drinking and young men.  Val cautioned her, because she knew that Khonnir wanted to keep their family at a low profile, even if she didn't know why.  Khonnor watching Domino's exploding excesses began to phrase his instructions as orders and the young android predictably began to rebel.  Then... one night, she vanished.

 

It would be possible to assume that Val was unaffected by the loss of her sister by the lack of emotion she showed, but Khonnir could tell she was distraught beyond measure.  Val demanded that they immediately get the authorities to search for Domino, or start doing it themselves.  Khonnir, though he loved Domino, balked at both ideas, saying that they had to keep a low profile, and for the first time he admitted that he had enemies who might be looking for him.  This was where, despite her love for Konnir, that she began to break with her father and Val stopped studying with him, giving up on the idea of wizardry.  The young girl continued learning healing from Doctor Devir, while she also applied some of her salary from that apprenticeship to learn from a retired investigator.  

 

As her father worried more and more about strangers asking questions about them, Val began her own quiet investigation into what might have happened to her sister.  For three years she continued being a healer, and learned to ask questions and collect facts trying to puzzle out where Domino had gone.  Whenever someone passed away during the healing who had no relatives, she took advantage of her situation to make items disappear that might be useful to her.  Her plan was simple; once she had figured out what happened to her sister, she was going to set out and find Domino, so she gathered equipment that she thought might be helpful to a young girl on the road.  When someone died after their pistol had blown up in their face, Val collected the damaged firearm and studied it, until she figured out enough to repair it.  Val knew that she would need some kind of advantage to protect herself and rescue Domino, because she was still thin and weak.  Bit by bit, over the three years, Val methodically gathered her adventuring supplies and asked questions.

 

As time passed, Val began to relieve some of her stress by abusing certain alchemical extracts to fill that missing part of herself, but eventually her patient investigations bore fruit and she learned that Domino had been kidnapped by someone who wanted her for lacivious purposes.  Val was given a name of a contact in a nearby town that she could visit for more details.  Val put together her adventuring kit, left a message for Khonnir in their secret drop box at the house, not wanting to admit to him that she'd been hunting for Domino all this time, and then left.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Wiz (see edit history)

[Roughtrade]

So Domino is responsible for Val's alcoholism.  Once someone explains that, she is going to feel very bad.  

 

1 hour ago, Wiz said:

Domino looked like a young adult still 

This brings up a thought.  Do androids age?  

 

Androids don’t live forever, though barring violence or tragedy their bodies never deteriorate. Rather, an android’s cybernetic mind eventually shuts down and self-restarts after about a century, leaving its body vacant for several weeks as the old soul departs for its final reward in the Great Beyond and a fresh, new soul finds its way into the shell.

 

This is pretty much my 'birth' scene of Domino coming online in a ruin somewhere.  Her previous life had shut down there for whatever reason.  Crushed or killed and slowly repaired which is my headcannon for the self repairing nanites instead of regular ones.  Also my reason for why she is smaller, Domino's nanites had to consume some of the base material to finish repairs.  They will eventually get her back to the proper size.  

 

So Domino is currently undersized and underweight and slowly growing.  But isn't that what aging is for an adolescent?  I didn't intend to set that up, but it comes out that way.  

 

Do older androids age?  Get grey hair?  Look more mature?  Could they do so if they wanted?  There are camouflage nanites.  If an android thought of themselves as older or more mature, would they develop some signs of aging?  It wouldn't have to be wrinkles or grey hair, a person who is thirty year old looks different from a twenty year old person, and both look different from a forty-five year old person; all without needing to have lots of wrinkles, baldness or grey hair.

 

None of this matters to the game.  Just the thoughts in my head.  I should probably go to bed.

 

[Wiz]

I actually never said Domino was undersized and underweight... that is Val.  Did I make a mistake on a name somewhere?  The whole point is that you were older than her (by your size, apparent age) but looked younger.

[Roughtrade]

2 hours ago, Wiz said:

The two were like peas in a pod, communicating in subtle ways that others didn't pick up, almost like they were twins who didn't look anything like each other. 

Back on subject

 

I like the sisterly vibe.  It will mean Val can tell when Domino is in an emotional state when the android lack of empathy prevents it from being the overt display others expect.  And your line of "one night she vanished" does make Domino's situation sound much more sinister.  Add in Khonnir's enemies and it becomes possible that whoever Domino ended up with might have been connected to that.  I am thinking there is likely a black market of sorts for androids.  They often do not have families to come looking for them which makes them ideal targets for 'human trafficking' for a variety of nefarious purposes. 

 

Friends in Torch would never pull something like this, and even those who regularly pass through might balk at grabbing someone from Torch, but a couple shady guys passing through who notice this Android is gullible enough to follow them out of town to a supposed horse race or something.  They don't have to have a specific purpose in mind, they just know people who pay for androids.  Domino gets traded around a few times before finally falling into the hands of whoever might suit a plot hook.

 

 

[Roughtrade]

3 minutes ago, Wiz said:

I actually never said Domino was undersized and underweight... 

No.  I did.  Androids are commonly six foot tall and weigh two hundred pounds.  Their body structure is made of material that is more dense than typical humans.  I have Domino at five foot even and one hundred and forty pounds.

[Wiz]

Sorry, I thought it would be clear when I said they were like twins who didn't look anything like each other made it clear, that you weren't underaged/small... they ACTED like twins act.

[Wiz]

Okay, so you do change with time, I wasn't aware of that aspect or I would have put it in the backstory.

[Wiz]

Point is, do you like the story?

 

Do you want any changes?

 

Feel free to fill in anything from Domino's end that I didn't cover.

[Roughtrade]

Oops.

 

3 minutes ago, Roughtrade said:

Friends in Torch would never pull something like this, and even those who regularly pass through might balk at grabbing someone from Torch, but a couple shady guys passing through who notice this Android is gullible enough to follow them out of town to a supposed horse race or something.  They don't have to have a specific purpose in mind, they just know people who pay for androids.  Domino gets traded around a few times before finally falling into the hands of whoever might suit a plot hook.

 

 

I meant this as a separate thought/post.  I am trying to think of leads for Val to have followed.  The 'usual crowd' at the local bar would not have wanted to make a mess with the local athorities, so they wouldn't be responsible for kidnapping Domino.  But all they might be able to tell Val is "She went with these two guys who were going to take her to the races.  We thought they were just going to fool around.  Never seen them around here before but maybe if you give me some money to pass around, I can get some answers for you"

 

 

 

[Wiz]

If you feel we need to detail that.  Mostly I used the kidnapping as Val's reason for abandoning wizardry and becoming an investigator.  She had to find her sister, and her dad wouldn't help.  Also her inexperiencce led it to taking so long. 🙂

[Roughtrade]

4 minutes ago, Wiz said:

Sorry, I thought it would be clear when I said they were like twins who didn't look anything like each other made it clear, that you weren't underaged/small... they ACTED like twins act.

It is clear.  I decided on her height and weight long ago.  

4 minutes ago, Wiz said:

Okay, so you do change with time, I wasn't aware of that aspect or I would have put it in the backstory.

They are not supposed to.  And I am not certain if it will be all that noticeable.  I hadn't intended it that way, but now it sounds like an interesting facet.  Val would still grow up faster.  But the idea that androids could age seems interesting to me at the moment.

 

4 minutes ago, Wiz said:

Feel free to fill in anything from Domino's end that I didn't cover.

I would like to leave room to expand as we go.  Laying out too many details could be deflating if you get in and I do not.  We have the basics of their relationship covered.  More sisterly than my first thoughts, but that feels like a good thing.  I like having connections to other Player Characters beyond the 'we were all in the bar at the same time when the bad thing happened' type scenarios.  And you've given me some stuff to consider for Domino's time as a prisoner.