Gorgon
Twenty-Nine | 2037 - 5 - 2 | 5" 9'
AppearanceGorgon has a surprisingly human appearance, but can very easily be identified as your run-of-the-mill Diver. It's something about her colorful appearance, her casually violent demeanor and the openly portrayed combat gear that just gives it away to the attentive observer. The neon-blue hair on her half-shaved head only distracts for a brief moment before people notice the very obvious artificial left arm. She dresses like some spoiled rich kid with distracting and utterly un-stealthy colors, but that is a conscious, very intentional choice. "If you go down, you gotta do it with style" is what she'd say about that herself. Still, every single piece of her get-up is deliberately chosen and offers actual utility.
She looks and -most of the time- behaves like an airhead, an obnoxious but ultimately harmless tag-along. As a result, people frequently underestimate Gorgon or fail to consider her a threat. Apart from the obvious left arm, her body seems to be free of modifications and augments - and that's because it is. Aside from some minor wiring in her brain, the woman is all natural and proud of it. Her eyes constantly shine with an unrealistic confidence that gets her knee-deep in the worst kinds of trouble. Once you've known her for a while, you'll realize that wiping that smug, perpetually entertained smile off her lips is near impossible. If you look up "laughing in the face of danger", you'll probably find pictures of her.
In combat situations, this confidence shows. She moves fearlessly through hails of gunfire (or regular fire, really) with strong, experienced motions. Watching her in a life-threatening situation for a mere 20 seconds reveals so much more of what lies behind the bubbly surface of misdirection than hours, weeks of just "knowing" her.
PersonalityOne of the most obvious and obnoxious traits of Gorgon's character is the fact that she's completely careless. She doesn't give a damn about getting her own ass in danger, people dying like flies or family members being tortured. She is literally unafraid of anything, and this is no coincident - an implanted emotional-response-suppression chip completely eliminates her ability to perceive fear. The chip is so deeply hard-wired to the brain that it can't function normally without it anymore, alas it is completely impossible to shut down Gorgon's recklessness. This isn't just some very pronounced habit of hers, it is the literal inability to be afraid of anything for the rest of her life. This naturally gets her into fights with people who have any sense of self-preservation, but makes her incredibly attractive as a disposable asset for the highest bidder.
And this "trait" defines most of her other characteristics - she's carefree, fun-loving, sociable hothead who loves to get into brawls and stimulate her adrenaline-addiction. Anything that's objectively considered unnecessarily dangerous or stupid (or better yet both!) immediately ignites her passion. She's also a heavy drinker, and very easy to provoke. But to those who don't drastically contradict either of these characteristics, she's usually quite entertaining to be around.
BioTwenty nine years ago, a girl was born on the Hong Kong ark. She was the the product of an affair between a diver named Róng and a prostitute. Róng happened to be the brother of the infamous Triad leader Chen, who to this day counts as one of the most influencial persons in the underworld of the Hong Kong ark. After being the month-long fling of Róng, her forgotten mother hid the pregnancy until the unfortunate child was born, then confronted Róng about it. She hoped for him to be the loving family father he pretended to be during their affair. He was not. Fearing for his reputation, the man shot the woman flat in the face. He would have killed the child too, but Chen was too honor-bound to let that happen. She exiled her brother for his transgressions and raised the girl like her own daughter.
That being said, being raised by a triad boss in Hong Kong was still fairly bottom-of-the-barrel. This particular ark has a reputation for being one of the most dangerous places on earth, and rightfully so. Only about 40% of its districts are actually under police protection, the rest is triad territory. Triad members are not given any privileges they didn't earn for themselves, and this was no different for the girl who would eventually become Gorgon. In fact, her bloodline painted a giant target on her forehead that made a lot of people come after her - killing the girl would significantly damage Chen's reputation and the woman wasn't exactly "popular" in this ark's society. After firmly securing her place in the triads hierarchy, the attempted assassinations on the child grew in frequency and intensity, and would soon cause her to withdraw from all social interaction - after all, seeing most of the people you consider friends getting butchered in brutal fashion isn't exactly healthy for the mental constitution of a fifteen-year-old girl.
When her own father came after her life - trying to erase the result and living proof of his failings - the child broke entirely. It seemed to her that the whole world was trying to get rid of her, and she hid away, even from her aunt, for almost two years. Living like a dog on the streets, eating what scraps she could get her claws on, hiding her face to escape the ever-looming threat. Then, one fateful day, one of her aunts goons found her. Chen, unwilling to discard the girl that was somewhat of a trophy to her, decided for a harsh punishment, followed by re-integration of the girl into the triad business.
They cut off her left arm, without any pain-inhibiters or other medication. Then, they implanted a fear-suppressing chip in her brain that forcefully and ultimately got rid of the girls phobias. This is when her Diver handle was first assigned: Qiànshí.
Qiànshí had to re-build her reputation from the ground up, but with the fear-suppressor, this turned out to be a walk in the park for her. It didn't take long for the assassination attempts against the young woman to cease completely when the rivaling triads realized just how dangerous a person with no sense of self-preservation can be. But that wasn't the peak of Qiànshí's growth yet. At the age of twenty-one, she had earned the credits and the right to have her missing arm replaced by something out of the test labs of aunty Chen's own, experimental weapon manufacturing company. She eventually became Chen's right hand and executioner and lived in riches and fame for a good three more years.
Then however, Qiànshí grew bored of being at the top of the food chain. She would take on increasingly suicidal missions, often endangering her entourage pointlessly to sate her own hunger for adrenaline. Chen noticed this development, and she didn't like it. But at the same time, she couldn't just off the child she had put so much effort and technology into. It didn't take much for the old woman to convince her nephew that the world out there, that being the other arks, held what the girl was craving so much. And she was right - a world in which people didn't recognize and respect Qiànshí wherever she went -was- a whole different beast.
So, Qiànshí left the Hong Kong Ark. She changed her name to its more universal western translation, both to symbolize a turning point in her life and to get rid of the reputation that preceeded her everywhere in Hong Kong. She started traveling from Ark to Ark, making money as a Diver and doing what she was best at - surviving. Over the next four years, Gorgon carved out a new reputation for herself. One of being outrageously indestructible, but also highly collateral. Most teams she worked with over the years either got wiped out during their missions or just barely made it out alive, terminating all cooperation to Gorgon immediately. When companies hire her, they usually
need the job done at all costs, and all the other team members get additional hazard pay by default.
WeaponsTenshi Industries "MFSMG": The standard issue Molecular Fragment Submachine Gun looks like your run-of-the-mill SMG from before cyber-breaking ammunition became popular, but like everything about Gorgon, its appearance is deceiving. Where other weapons manufacturers went along with the "the bigger the bullets"-race, Tenshi Industries, a relatively small manufacturer decided for a philosophy of "size doesn't matter". The weapon fires specialised "Type: Shard" ammunition that dismantles shortly after ejection from the muzzle into several small fragments. These can cut armor on an almost molecular level and inflict tiny cracks, making it brittle and extremely vulnerable to concussion as well as reducing its stability against all other types of physical projectiles. The damage this kind of bullet does to unprotected human flesh is understandably devastating. The reduced precision and high velocity fall-off after fragmentation of the bullets renders this weapon most effective at low range. At ranges above 10m, it is advised to use the supplied standard ammunition that sports unusually low recoil and bullet spread for SMG-standards, but lacks the universally important aug-piercing effect. The weapon has two parallel slots for magazines to supplement the weapons concept.
SkillsetCQC - due to her aug and choice of weapon, Gorgon is most suited for close quarter encounters. While she had no specific training, she has years of experience at getting into the thick of it, wreaking havoc and getting out relatively unscathed. That, and her murderously dangerous left arm.
Adaptable Defense - The "Medusa" prototype is a highly useful tool that has the right defense form or survival utility for nearly every situation. It can operate independently if necessary, leaving it effective even if its user is dazed and disoriented. Gorgon is literally packing her own portable cover that enables her to safely get into effective combat range against most targets.
"Taunt" - Being the colorful, obnoxious, noisy and fearless human being she is, Gorgon often ends up drawing the enemies attention to herself. Her impeccable defense then allows her to effectively distract opponents until her allies dispose of them.
Cursed Luck - Gorgon is like a magnet for disaster. Around her, things inexplicably go horribly wrong, more often than statistically explainable. At the same time, she herself usually comes out of said disaster unscathed - although sometimes by the skin of her teeth.
Augs"Medusa"-prototype arm replacement: Gorgon's left arm is completely replaced and by an artificial limb surrogate of the experimental "Medusa" prototype. It can change shapes into a number of things, including the general shape of a human arm, protective body-armor, a shield or simply diverge into four strands of adaptive high-tech-fiber with a two-digit pincer extension at the end. It's not only extremely unsettling, but also incredibly elegant! The prototype is controled by an AI that is asynchronically connected to Gorgon's brain. It receives neural stimuli and monitors her neural activity to adapt its form to whatever suits Gorgon's needs, but it can't "communicate back". Primary directive of the AI is defensive measures, secondary directive is general utility. The arm has several shape presets but can adapt to situations if necessary. Example presets:
Body Armor Mode: Fibers wrap around Gorgon's upper body and harden on impulse to provide additional protection against concussive blows. Mostly used to reduce damage from blunt strikes, nearby explosions or being thrown around as a result of them.
Shield mode: Fibers form a riot-shield like hardened barrier that can be used like a traditional shield. Its most useful purpose is to change the angle at which armor-penetrating physical projectiles impact and pierce the shield. The trajectory of piercing rounds can be altered to a degree, making them miss their mark entirely, or at least prevent them from hitting vital organs. This mode is weak to explosive projectiles that would send heavy concussions through Gorgon's entire body when blocked.
Arm Mode: All four fibers combine into the shape or a normal human arm that fulfills its natural, intuitive purpose. More durable and powerful than a normal human arm, but less so than specialized arm-shaped cyberware.
"Whip" Mode: Fibers are spread out and separated to fulfill various tasks, such as supporting a firearm held in the right hand or grabbing and throwing objects. If fully focused on the task, they can be used to "cut" bullets in mid-air. This doesn't reduce velocity of the projectile much and would be fairly useless against standard ammunition, but can very effectively neutralize propelled ammunition by destroying the propulsion and detonation mechanisms.
CDAPM "Polygon Coat" Protective Wear: While technically not an augment, the CDAPM is based on the same technology, and combines the benefits of an adaptive dermal armor layer with what's most important in the life of a Diver: Fashion! Dubbed "Polygon Coat" due to its peculiar texture and design, it's essentially a light-weight mantle that offers limited defensive support. Like with standard issue adaptive armor, the fabric is flexible like regular clothing but hardens if force is applied to its surface. The effective impact dampening is naturally lower than with actual dermal coating, but still substential. Gorgon uses a modified version of the standard coat that protects the right half of her body in particular while being less movement impairing than the original set.
