"Truth can only be found in one place: the code."
NAME:
CODENAME:
Summoner / Knower of Names
AGE:
~24 years old (~15 year as a diver)
APPEARANCE:
Sophia has a slender, elfin build, and a decidedly otherworldly appearance. She has freckled, light brown skin and brilliant violet eyes, that only shine bright with interest when she's gazing into the code of the Hieracon. Her hair is colored a gentle shade of blue and it rarely if ever reaches much further than her shoulders. Although typically blue is an artificial color, there is no sign that the Cipher's azure locks have ever been touched by a coloring dye.
While Spohia is unmarked by any ink or identifiable scars, she has had a septum piercing for as long as anyone can remember.
The young Cipher is an impractical dresser at the best of times, favoring beautiful sweeping dresses, elegant gowns, intricate long skirts, pretty blouses, and generally anything that would seem impractical or far too formal for a diver to wear. Somehow, mysteriously, very mysteriously, her attire does not appear to impede her movements through the Eclipse Zone in even the slightest way.
If absolutely necessary, Sophia can be convinced to wear something boring and plain, such as pants.
SPECIALITY:
TALENTS/SKILLS
"To call up a demon you must learn its name. Men dreamed that, once, but now it is real in another way. You know that, Sophia. Your business is to learn the names of programs, the long formal names, names the owners seek to conceal. True names . . ."TECHNOMANCER
"You don't get it, sir, she doesn't just understand the Hieracon, she's connected to it somehow."
"T- That's not possible."
"I know, it shouldn't be, but it is. Look at these readings, look at the pattern in the code, it's changing, she's changing it."
"Apothos protect us!"
➜ Extended exposure to the Abyss has changed Sophia at the very core of her being and she has developed a powerful connection to the Hieracon and any ancient machinery that still runs on it.
ANALYTICAL MIND
"Look, she may be crazy, but her mind is sharp, real sharp, just give her a puzzle, and you'll see what I mean."
➜ Sophia possess an uncanny ability to logically analyze information and to deduce solutions to complex problems.
CODESLINGER
"Hmmm...this is interesting, very interesting, it's some of the oldest Hieracon I've ever seen. Where did you find it?"
"Don't worry about that, just tell me, can you figure out what it means?"
"No, this is way above my pay grade, friend."
"Shit. Know anyone else?"
"Ask Sophia, the Summoner...if anyone can tell you, it's her."
➜ Sophia has a remarkable gift for interpreting complex glyphs and deciphering lines of Hieracon code that leave even the most talented of Ciphers puzzled.
EIDETIC MEMORY
"Alright, Miss Know-It-All! What's the one hundred thirty-second word of the Codex Historia?"
"Eldritch."
"She's right!"
"Saviors. I can't believe it. How could she remember?"
"I told you...but you wouldn't listen."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, just take the ration and shut it."
➜ Perhaps as a result of her particularly strange neural structure, Sophia has a prodigious memory and can instantly recall facts, dates, numbers, or anything else she has seen or heard.
SPEED READING
"How long will it take you to read that code!?"
"Look, Jon, relax, it's going to take her some time to open the door, there's thousands of line of Hieracon to check..."
"We don't have time! Those monsters are going to-"
"Done."
"What?"
"I'm finished, we can go now."
➜ Sophia can read text and code at a rate that seems positively inhuman, a trait that serves her well in her capacity as a Cipher.
EQUIPMENT:
➜ Ultralight Diver Harness (exo-rig w/ grapple lines, torch, and Echo-box)
➜ A Broken Pocket-watch (Gold)
➜ A Basic Respirator/Gas Mask
➜ A Blue Umbrella
:LINKS
SUMMONER LVL III ➜ Sophia has carried this particular relic with her for some years. Retrieved from a long forgotten tomb in the Eclipse Zone, she has since modified the relic via her Cipher ability, making it capable of summoning not just one but several ethereal entities to do her bidding.
PERSONALITY:
CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT
"Do you think there are any more relics behind that door?"
"I don't know Sophia, but we're not here to find out."
"Why not? It wouldn't take me long to open it."
"This was a military base, that's a blast door, I don't want to find out what War-Forged monstrosity is waiting behind it."
"Why not? Don't you want to know?"
➜ Sophia is curious, especially about anything related to the ancient ancestors, and she's willing to do almost anything to satisfy this curiosity.
LESS THAN SOCIAL
"Talk is cheap. Show me the code."
➜ Sophia, like many Ciphers, is not always the most social of people, and generally prefers the company of clever lines of code.
RECKLESS
"Get down, Sophia!"
"I have to get to the terminal!"
"YOU IDIOT! GET ON THE GROUND! THEY'RE SHOOTING AT US!"
"But the terminal-"
"What goods the terminal if you're dead?"
"I have to know, I have to know what's on there, I can hear it, speaking to me, it wants me to save it."
"What!?"
➜ In pursuit of ancient technology, information or Hieracon, Sophia is completely and utterly reckless, seemingly untouched by fear or any concern for her own safety.
BOUTS OF MADNESS
"Yes, that shade of blue is quite lovely."
"Ummm...Sophia? Who are you talking to?"
"An old friend."
"Sophia, dear, there's no one here."
"Beatrix, don't be ridiculous, just because you can't see him doesn't mean he's not real."
➜ Long talks with what appear to be imaginary friends is generally frowned upon once one is older than twenty, Sophia, however, doesn't appear to pay this social norm much mind.
EMPATHETIC
"Here."
"What is it?"
"It's a relic, I altered it, it's better now."
"Thanks?"
"Sell it. It should be enough to buy you a new arm."
➜ For a Cipher, Sophia is oddly good at understanding the feelings and thoughts of other people. Most of the time, this only means that she can avoid undue attention, but on occasion Sophia will actually show genuine kindness to those around her, a rarity among Ciphers.
SHORT HISTORY:
"My past is the Hieracon, my present is the Hieracon, and my future is the Hieracon...all else is an illusion."Born in a bustling trading port of the Sprawling City, Sophia has long since forgotten the faces of her parents and siblings, much less the name of the unremarkable settlement that spawned her. Of her early life, she remembers precious little, save for the smell of baking bread and the
ballad of an ancient bard.
Sophia manifested her powers as a Cipher at an early age, but when exactly, she doesn't remember, time, time has precious little meaning to those attuned to the mysteries of the Hieracon. However, her earliest memories are of the Eclipse Zone and the strongest are inseparable from her memories of the Hieracon. She has been a diver, both sanctioned and unsanctioned for most of her life, unquestioningly accepting any job that will allow her to once more venture into the heart of the Eclipse Zone, no matter the risk, no matter the price, and no matter the punishment.
With each dive Sophia seems to lose a little bit more of herself to the arcane code of the ancestors and she returns a little bit less human each time. She has survived, but she has changed, and she continues to change with each step she takes deeper into the Abyss.
MISCELLANEOUS:
To understand, to not just see, but to truly understand the source code of the Hieracon requires a great sacrifice, not of riches or gold, but of the mind, and perhaps of the soul eternal. Sophia, like all other Ciphers, has already paid this heavy price, and the very neuronal connections of her brain have been forged for one purpose, for one singular, maddening goal, to understand the arcane symbols and ancient code of the Hieracon.
Divorced from the reality of mundane humans, Sophia lives in a world of her own choosing, holding animated discussions with enigmatic entities that no one else can perceive, much less communicate with or understand, and losing herself in the language of a long dead civilization. Retaining some of her humanity, Sophia can, to the surprise of many, nonetheless gets along well with other people and she is capable of passing for a neurotypical human, at least for a time. However, she rarely engages with other human beings, apart from when it is absolutely necessary, as she finds them, on average, to be far less talented conversationalists than the cryptic creatures of her mind.
Sophia has an obsession with discovering and recording the the true names of other beings, believing that knowledge of the true name of any creature will give her power over them. When left to her own devices, she often recites, barely above a whisper, the long list of names she has collected to herself. Many if not most of these names are clearly human in nature, but others make little sense and sound...wrong...very wrong...as if they were words never intended for human beings to speak to begin with.
