Scherezad
Preface
Scherezad's main theme is one of dealing with adversity. She was made just as I was coming off of a very stressful time in my life, and I decided that she would reflect that, as both a model and way to explore the problems I was having. Given this I may have been a little ahrder on her than I might have otherwise been. No regrets, though, I think it's come across well enough.
Her other major theme is an exploration of where, exactly, the human soul lies. Scherezad is arguably not human - there's enough implant in her head moving her about that she could be said to be an AI parading about in the body of a comatose woman. Alternatively (if you were feeling more charitable) you could say that the devices in her head return the woman to a semblance of consciousness. Both of these opinions are valid, and I'm not interested in saying one is right or the other wrong - or some third explanation, perhaps.
Another reason for designing her the way I did was because I had subscribed a long while ago, and then unsubbed. I came back when my friend Jester moved out to Syndicate and started talking about it a lot on his blag, and then I foudn the RP community. I needed a way to explain the fact that I didn't know much about the game or lore while still having a long-lived character, so came up with the trite "amnesiac" answer. Fortunately, brain conditions are common to the Capsuleer, so it's worked well - Scherezad is sort of a living cautionary tale about the dangers of living as an infomorph. An unintended but happy accident.
Also, fun fact: initially I was going to have Scherezad as an artificial intelligence who had forced its way into a Capsuleer's body. I ditched this plan once I realized it was a bit overplayed. This is why some of you might remember that my very first bio mentioned rogue drones and wasn't very poetic at all.
No, I'm not going to tell you what I replaced this first back-story with. No, I'm not going to tell you who Scherezad was before her accident, or who was responsible for that, or why it happened. Sorry
I'll just say that: You're probably not right, but you're also probably not far off.
Finally: I've been very leery of posting a biography for her. I've found that as soon as one posts a description of "this is why my character behaves this way" it immediately changes the nature of interaction for that character. I've enjoyed the way that Scherezad interacts with people (especially those of you who are willing to call her out for being annoying, or acknowledge her awkwardness, because that's something people with speech pathology get all-the-time) and I don't want to change that. That said, you all as players deserve an explanation as to why I have a character with obvious deficiencies. I'm not just trolling! So, here's a little explanation of the Zad.
Biography
Name: Unknown
CONCORD License: Scherezad
Age: Unknown
Clone Age: 28
Ethnicity: Achuran
Citizenship: Caldari State (Lai Dai)
Height: 6'1" (188cm)
Weight: 185lbs
BMI: 24
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Blue
Physical Description
Scherezad is unusually large for an Achuran, coming in at over the 95th percentile for height and weight for females of her age group. This height and weight is unaugmented - she does have cybernetics, but these tend to be low-mass and do not significantly alter her natural characteristics. Her body type is mesomorphic, which is helped by the fact that she visits a gym regularly. While she is not exceptionally strong, she tends to be stronger than the typical Capsuleer without strength modifications.
Scherezad keeps an esthetician on contract, and receives visits at least three times a week. She is rarely seen without makeup or professionally coiffed hair, and her clothing is always presentable and professional. This is partially due to the modesty and presentation clauses of her employment contract with Lai Dai, but is also her personal preference. Without the help of a professional, Scherezad would be much more of an unfashionable mess.
Cybernetics
Scherezad plays host to a bewildering array of cybernetics for reasons explained below. A significant number of these are in her head. She has 47 neurological implants over and above those typical to Capsuleers - so many, in fact, that she is unable to make use of mass-market implants. These sockets are taken up by implants that keep her conscious and functional. Central to these implants is a TCMC, which functions as a central bridging unit for the other implants. Lai Dai markets a simplified set of this implant constellation under the Tietosh TCMC brand, marketed as a medical implant set for comatose and paralyzed individuals.
Beyond her central nervous system, Scherezads' clones have numerous structural and systemic implants. Most of these are subtle and many are sub-cellular. Some of them are:
- Carbon-calcium fiber lattice to increase bone strength and joint endurance
- A symbiotic sub-cellular alteration to her structural muscles that negates muscle loss due to inactivity.
- Immune system implants that increases her immune system response time and improves immune system learning
- Alveolar vesicle modifications that improve oxygen/carbon dioxide transfer in the lungs
- Graphene tendon and ligature implants that improve structural strength and decrease joint wear
No, those aren't breast implants. The ligature implants certainly help, though.
Personal History
Scherezad's first records are here CONCORD licensing papers, but these have been relatively unhelpful in determining her pre-accident history. Her first real records are the purchase invoices between Lai Dai Research Biomedical and Cybernetic from the local Clone and Cognitive Remap facility in Kakakela. These papers describe the 5,000,000 ISK that LDRBC paid for the body of a comatose Capsuleer, Scherezad, for use in medical research. This is in accordance with the last will and testament of the Capsuleer, who was scheduled to be biomassed after she did not wake from a routine cognitive remapping procedure. This occured in YC110.
During the next few years, Scherezad was used to testbed a collection of neurological implants for LDRBC. Due to the Capsuleers' genetic tolerance of implantation (which also made her succeptible to all manner of diseases, which was later corrected) the Capsuleer was able to take on an astonishing array of devices both as part of and separate from her central nervous system. This made her a lab favourite for testing devices as well as some notoriety in medical research circles.
The Tietosh project, headed by director Atkio Vanamoinen, eventually culminated in the surprise awakening of the patient in YC112. The patient was not conscious at this point, but began responding to a great deal of stimulus and evidencing brain activity outside of direct stimulation. Scherezad's first memories are from this time - memories which are uniformly chaotic, but relatively peaceful. She began responding to physical stimulus mid-112, and first opened her eyes late in that year.
At this point Scherezad had transformed from being a favourite patient to something of a company mascot for LDRBC. Her astonishing recovery (due in no small part to her own neural plasticity) was tremendous advertizing for the company services within their own circles, and that fact alone earned the company a very large research grant from Lai Dai Research in YC112. This grant money helped fund the completion of the Tietosh cluster as well as giving Scherezad her first conscious moments. She awoke mid-113, though was unable to speak or make sense of her surroundings to a great extent. Fortunately, she responded well to traditional restorative procedures. She spent the remainder of the year learning to stand and walk again, and learning how to read and speak.
Once she was able to communicate, Scherezad showed two remarkable aspects that had somehow avoided neurological damage, or were somehow gifted by her heavy cognitive alterations. Firstly and perhaps most alarmingly, she showed a natural and deep affinity for mathematics. While she was completely amnesiatic and showed great difficulty in retaining memories beyond a few weeks, she learned mathematisc and some technical subjects with great ease. This made her a favourite assistant with some of the researchers in the algorithms department, earning her a work contract in early YC114 with the same company that had reconstructed her. It also allowed her to apply for and pass a basic nursing license, allowing her to work in the biological labs and conduct some of the operations that LDRBC conducted.
Secondly, she showed far greater comfort in a Capsule, plugged into a ship, than she ever did outside of one. Due in no small part to the difference in sensory input streams, Scherezad found far more grace and comfort amongst the stars than she ever did otherwise. This is not something she enjoys talking about, however.
Scherezad now works as a full time employee for Lai Dai Research Biomedical and Cybernetic. She also owns and operates one of its subsidiaries, Lai Dai Research Spacelane Security. This is mostly to separate her life as a Capsuleer from LDRBC, so that should she ever get into trouble or find herself under legal proceedings, she will not inadvertently bring LDRBC into prosecution. Her work with LDRBC varies widely, but mostly focuses on developing and refining algorithms for use in various military and internal contracts. She also conducts biological experiments, favouring thin-slice dissections of neurological structures to use as inspiration in her networking projects. Finally, LDRBC still uses her as a testbed for many of their implants, with her newfound consciousness providing them with first-person feedback on their success. She considers this portion of her job an honour and an obligation, given how LDRBC has given her a new lease on life.
Neurological Review
Scherezad is host to many debilitating neurological conditions. She bears them all with fortitude, putting a bright face out to the world whenever possible. She avoids contact with others when she is unable to maintain her optimism.
Scherezad has significant speech pathology, and is unable to independely form complete sentences without stuttering. This problem is related to her ability to create sentences and is due to an irreperable connectivity problem between her already-damaged wernike's and broca's areas. This makes it difficult for her to recognize words when heard aloud, and also difficult for her to decide on what words will make an appropriate response. LDRBC is unsure as to why this continues to be a problem and is continuing to study the issue. This problem does not surface when she is reading directly from text (and not suffering the aphasic issues discussed below), nor when she is reciting something memorized, as these processes use different brain structures.
Scherezad is somewhat aphasic. Under stress, she is unable to form words at all, nor is she able to understand them - the sounds of speech lose their meaning. She will babble when in this state, and will be unaware that she is incomprehensible. This condition can also occur when she is tired, dehydrated, or has low blood sugar.
This aphasia extends into her senses. Most of her sensory perception (everything outside of taste and smell) is artificially reconstructed by her neurological implants. These reconstructions are far from perfect and deviate quite widely from what is considered to be human normal. Similar to anomia, concrete shapes and sensations will at times cease to be percieved as discrete objects, instead resolving as a confusing mash of lines, edges, colours and surfaces. This happens most frequently when she is startled or exposed to quick changes. Watching live action holo or vidoes is extremely difficult for her, though she has an easier time with 2D animation, especially with highly differentiated and saturated colours. This affects her taste in music as well as resulting in a general sense of numbness and pins-and-needles across her body.
All of these factors tend to make Scherezad seem highly focused when presented with a particular problem, and mildly (or very) confused otherwise.
Psychological Review
Scherezad is, in many ways, very much a child. She is particularly vulnerable to manipulation and is highly dependent. Having been "born" in an environment where she was forced to trust others for her very life, as well as having that trust rewarded, she's exceptionally innocent in regards to the machinations of others. Unlike children, however, Scherezad has no puberty to modify her brain out of this mold, making any "enlightenment" in the future very difficult, and certainly painful.
The formative experience of being nursed back from death has made her extremely close to the people of LDRBC, to the point of being unconcerned by the fact that they control her TCMC to help her behaviour. She is content being a 'puppet' for the people who brought her back from death, and willingly does anything that LDRBC asks, considering it only proper that they get a fair return on their investment in her. This has led to accusations of LDRBC exploiting her, which is an argument with some solid ground to it. This feeling of loyalty extends to the State in general. Her trust has not yet been deeply abused, however.
At the same time as feeling intense loyalty to LDRBC, her experience has made her feel deeply indebted to them. Scherezad feels deeply guilty over the resources spent on her, and spends most of her time trying to prove herself a worthy member of the family. This is exacerbated by her neurological problems, as every misplaced word or moment of distraction makes her feel as if she has to prove herself all over again.
These feelings outlined above are duplicated, in smaller form, in her relationships with other Capsuleers. She cheerfully sacrifices her time, self, and wealth for the requests of others, both out of an honest desire to make others happy and a deep, unabiding sense of shame at her condition. This trend holds even when the other individuals in question are entirely unrelated to her condition or recovery - it's simply how she engages with the world. This also leads to her actively avoiding confrontation most of the time. She will at times actively *pursue* some sorts of confrontation, purely as a personal improvement project, however.
Despite these feelings of guilt and shame, she is typically happy. Her TCMC takes the edge off of the deepest depression, and she otherwise posesses a deep wellspring of optimism. Given that her memories can fade relatively quickly, only the most durable memories remain, and these are typically very positive memories. This keeps her happy and motivated when others with sharper senses might find cause to be depressed or cynical.
One of the side effects of her difficulties in perception is a feeling of isolation. She understands that she doesn't percieve the world in the same way as others and often feels isolated, especially when in a crowd. This makes it difficult for her to form deep relationships, especially when combined with the guilt complex described above. A happier side-effect of her perceptive issues is that she is very thoughtful. Her ideas are surprisingly well-articulated, even if she's unable to voice them clearly most of the time.
A smaller side-effect of her dependence on others (something which continues to this day) is the almost compulsive desire to organize. As she has little control over her life , given her dependence on a large body of specialists, she compensates by trying to control her immediate surroundings. Books must go in their proper places, clothing must be folded and organized by colour, cups must have their handles at a specific angle from the centre of the table, etc. This indulgence is not quite an obsessive compulsive disorder, but can at times interfere with her life to some degree.
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