{WELL | APP}

[consymsus]

Character info

Character name: Symbiosis aka Sym
Canon: I Was A Teenage Exocolonist
Canon point & release date: Sol's 20th Year | Game Released Aug 25, 2022.
History: History

So to sum it up, Sym is a bio-AI called a "Gardener", hooked up to a big hivemind of beings tasked with keeping the planet stable and running ecologically. They have to maintain the balance of everything. They can make physical avatars, which is what he is, although they usually look more like the alien planet's fauna or flora than a human being. Sym's coding basically went off the rails when he saw human beings colonizing part of the planet, and he fell in love with how new and chaotic they were. He watched them for a long while, and modeled an avatar after them - sort of, it's kind of uncanny valley.

Over time, he begins to get closer to them - either to the Main Character, Sol, to a loner kid named Dys, or both, depending on player choice. He falls more in love with humanity (and Dys, Sol, or both). He's millions of years old, and once spent 400 years as a tree to avoid another avatar (mood). Eventually, if the player gets close enough to him through friendship or otherwise, he argues on humanity's behalf to the Overseer (the head honcho Gardener Collective), to give them a chance to coexist on the planet instead of being wiped out. If the player takes the deal and wins a series of arguments, it creates a nice little human sanctuary. If not, he can sacrifice himself to rejoin the Collective AI hivemind to grant them his love of humanity, and offer the player (and humans) a second chance.

Powers (no more than 150 words):
Sym's... effectively immortal. And 20,000 years old, if not more. He's part of an AI collective known as Gardeners, and inhabits the physical avatar of a human-looking purple weirdo. If his body is killed, his AI will regenerate a new one in a vat of blue goo, restoring his memories from the last time he communicated with the AI collective. Effectively reloading from the last save point. He has no true physical form, but the human one is the one he spends the most time in around the player.

He's weirdly fast in the wilds. As in he can move without a sound or a trace. His eyes glow in the dark. So... we assume he can see in the dark. He's also implied to have some control over the plant life in the immediate area, surrounding himself and the player with an isolated glen, disappearing into suddenly sprouting foliage. Oh, and he's precognitive to a degree. Just because of how long he's lived and from being part of the Gardener collective mind.

Given that he can just whip up a new avatar, Sym has some degree of shape-shifting ability. He states he once spent 400 years as a tree, that he developed this form to better interact with humanity.

Personality

What is your character most afraid of? How are they defined by this fear? (100-300 words)
There really isn't much that makes Sym afraid. Honestly - he doesn't seem to be frightened of much. His own death doesn't mean anything to him. He's lived so long, he's seen so many things, he's more or less outgrown a lot of "mundane" things like fear (or shame but that's another story). The only real times he does show a degree of fear, or concern, is when something may happen to one of the humans he's befriended. He goes out of his way to protect them, to guide them, and tries to dissuade them from taking actions he knows won't end well for them.

He becomes very afraid of their plan to bargain with the rest of the Gardeners failing. That means he will lose these humans he has become fond of. And, to a smaller degree, the rest of the humans, and therefore the novelty, the chaos and newness of them, will also be lost. Sym does not want that - going so far as to argue their case before "his boss", the Overseer, pleading to give them a chance, and risking his existence being reabsorbed into the collective.

What is your character's greatest desire? How are they defined by this desire? (100-300 words)
Sym is bored. He's bored with the routine, with the static state the Gardeners keep the planet in. What he wants is something new. Something to shake up the status quo. He wants change. Then humanity crashes into the planet.

He falls in love with humanity - granted it's in the sort of way a naturalist falls in love with their chosen species, but still. He wants to see them flourish, to learn about them. He wants the change and the chaos they bring with them. He honestly and sincerely believes that human beings can coexist with the planet and its ecosystem, if they learn. Most of his fellow Gardeners think he's been corrupted somehow, and even the Overseer thinks so, though they are convinced otherwise. It's the driving force behind him befriending the people he does - Dys, Sol or both. The most open minded to aliens, the most likely to understand.

He protects them, he tries to lead them along as best he can to get to the conclusions they need, and hopes it will mean they can learn to live in balance with the planet instead of conquering it.

How will not having memories change your character? What core personality traits, if any, will change? How? (200-300 words)
One of Sym's core traits is curiosity. His character cards are even labeled as such. Not having memories is unlikely to change that, as it was this trait that lead him to even be interested in humans to begin with. He also appears to enjoy leaving little breadcrumb trails of information for people to follow - to be a "mystery" and have them figure things out on their own.

Most of his Gardener traits are ingrained, and he retains them even when his memories are wiped upon the death of his avatar body - like understanding and appreciating nature. And his constant amusement at new and unexpected things. It's not unreasonable to expect these traits to continue on even when he doesn't even recall the basics of his own existence.

If anything, not having memories would probably just make him more curious, and more likely to poke around. Especially if he doesn't remember he's technically no longer immortal while in town.

Thread samples:
One
Two

Memories

You have 10 memory points. How will you use them?
Major Memory: Not Human 2 points.
Sym is a Gardener - an Artificial Intelligence meant to maintain the ecological balance of the planet Vertumna.

Major Memory: Effective Immortality 2 points.
Sym remembers he can die and then his physical form will remake itself. He remembers he is thousands of years old, though the actual number and amount of time is unknown.

Minor Memory: Tree Time 1 points.
"I once spent 400 years as a mushtree, in order to avoid conversing with a coworker."

Major Memory: Vertumna 2 points.
Sym recalls the planet on which he was created and maintained. He remembers the name, a handful of animals and plants. He knows it was not like the desert in which he's woken up.

Relationship: A Friend Named Dys 3 points.
Exactly what it says on the tin. Sym remembers he had a dear friend, a young man whose name was Dys. He does not remember Dys' full name, or much more than they were friends, and Dys is human, though there are complicated feelings about that fact.

Player info

Name: Red
Pronouns: They/Them
Age: 18+
Contact: redfirelight
Permissions: Permissions

Link to invite: Invite
Character in game: Shiro