Empatheias App

[a_boy_robot]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Zee
Contact: eiyoko @ plurk
Age: 26
Current Characters: Merisia Thenel


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Astro
Age: Approx. 13 years. (Kinda. He's got 13 years worth of memories programmed into him but he's only been turned on for like less than a week.)
Canon: AstroBoy (2009 film)
Canon Point: Immediately before the robot games, when Hamegg electrocutes him and knocks him out

Background:
The story does not begin with Astro. Instead, it begins with a bright, confident, cheerful lad named Toby Tenma. He made straight A's in school, his father was head of the Ministry of Science and father of modern robotics, he won many awards for his brilliance in various fields of science, he had a wonderful home in the glorious, floating Metro City...things were wonderful. Of course, all good things must come to an end, and Toby's in particular was sudden and tragic.

While being driven home by the clumsy yet well-meaning family robo-butler, Toby learned that his father would be unveiling the Peacekeeper, an incredibly powerful fighting robot. Toby, excited, changed course (via some clever rewiring of the family butler robot) to the Minstry of Science to tag along. Although initially allowed to come to the demonstration, the President quickly had a change of heart and ordered the guards to "take him to a safe place and keep him there".

The Peacekeeper's test-run was almost under way. The President was reluctant to power the robot with the Blue Core, an incredibly powerful and self-sustaining power source consisting of pure positive energy. He forced the scientists to load the Peacekeeper with the negatively-charged and unpredictable Red Core instead. Unknown to him, Dr. Tenma, and everyone else in the room, Toby had snuck into the room and was watching the demonstration, having snuck out of the closet he'd been locked in and past security.

The Peacekeeper was quickly labeled a success...until it turned and began attacking the scientists that created it. Dr. Tenma closed the emergency door, trapping the Peacekeeper behind it. Unfortunately, Toby - whom had crept closer for a better look at the demonstration - was trapped inside as well. When the Peacekeeper attempted to break through the wall, Toby was caught in the blast with nowhere to hide, and nothing was left of him but his hat.

Devastated by the loss of his son, Dr. Tenma immediately set to work creating a robot replica, outfitted with "the most advanced defense systems ever created," as well as all of Toby's memories. The last piece of the puzzle was the Blue Core, acquired from his most trusted assistant and friend, Dr. Elefun. After days of neither eating nor sleeping, Tenma finally completed the robotic replica of his son and activated it. The robot, fully believing it was Toby Tenma, was a success.

On his very first day awake, the new Toby began homeschooling with his father, but after an incident in the living room reignited Dr. Tenma's sorrow over the loss of his (real) son, Toby was banished to his bedroom. It was then that Toby began to notice a few oddities with himself after having fallen out his window by mistake, namely his increased hearing and ability to fly. Excited, Toby raced to his "father" to show these amazing new abilities to him, only to find that his father no longer even wanted to look at him. Tenma informed Toby that not only was he not his son, but he was a robot replica, and no longer wanted by the distraught father whom realized that the real Toby would never be back. Toby, now homeless and confused, left, but not before hearing a few small words of encouragement from Elefun that there was indeed a place in the world for him.

That evening, Toby was chased by the President's military for reasons unknown to him. While Toby managed to outrace them for the most part, an enormous barrage of missiles from the main military vessel sent him plummeting to the surface of the Earth, which had (for the most part) become Metro City's heavily polluted scrap heap. There, he befriended several orphans living on the surface shortly before being kidnapped by a robot activist group. However, his kidnapping did not last. After being given a name and information on an apparently neferious man named Hamegg, the orphans "rescued" Toby from the Robot Revolutionary Front and began leading him home.

Upon being asked his name, Toby adopted the name the RRF suggested for him - "Astro" - and began living as a normal orphan on the surface. Before long, he met Hamegg, whom welcomed Astro with open arms and didn't hesitate to give him a few words of encouragement.

As days went on, Astro began finding it increasingly difficult to hide his true identity as a robot, no thanks to the robot dog (fondly named "Trashcan") trying to hurry him along. After reviving and bringing back an enormous robot for Hamegg to work on for his Robot Games, Astro was finally beginning to feel at home. He even closely befriended Cora, the eldest of the orphans and former resident of Metro City. However, things came to a grinding halt when, on the day of the Robot Games, Astro confronted Hamegg on the nature of the event, exclaiming "I thought it was a show, not a slaughter!" when he learned that the main attraction was robots fighting and destroying one another. However, Hamegg replied that he had no problem with it, claiming that at the robots were really "just junk waiting to happen." Then, claiming that robots could not have real emotions, he attacked Astro, electrocuting him and revealing that he had known Astro was not a person but a very convincing robot. Astro remained awake just long enough to hear Hamegg telling the other orphans the truth before finally blacking out.



Personality:
The most prominent and obvious thing about Astro is perhaps his friendly nature. He's selfless, thoughtful, and soft-spoken, whether he's talking to friends or to complete strangers (though giving how approachable he is, strangers don't often stay strangers for very long around him). Although quire intelligent, Astro is very modest and hardly flaunts his abilities or knowledge. He is also cooperative and polite, and also respectful of authority, though unfortunately he can be gullible. His thoughtfulness does lead him to be incredibly kind and generous, and he has no qualms with comforting anyone who may be upset or distressed.

Though he may have only been "alive" for less than a week, Astro has thirteen years worth of memories from his predecessor, and as a result is more or less a teenaged boy himself. Though still on the calmer side of things, he is very much prone to bouts of playfulness and humor. He also has a natural curiosity and willingness to try new things, though fortunately is particularly cautious. Despite this, when it comes to new situations or discoveries, Astro is still occasionally clumsy and socially awkward.

While he is notably a glass-half-full kind of kid, Astro is not without his moments of worry and especially insecurity. Though he won't often discuss it at length with others, uncertainty comes to him rather easily, especially given he's a convincingly human robot wandering in a world full of humans that see his kind as mere objects with no true feelings. He's also particularly prone to despair and sadness when things change rapidly for the negative or when his trust is betrayed. He may not fully give up hope, but in the moment will certainly wonder what went wrong and why such a terrible thing had to happen.

Astro is also a little defensive about his true identity as a robot. Though his facade is incredibly convincing and he doesn't often need to come up with excuses, there are times when he'll need to come up with something to keep others from being suspicious, not to be deceptive, but because he worries about how he'll be accepted if it becomes known that he isn't "a real person". Unforunately, Astro's a rather terrible liar, and his attempts to cover things up are often meager at best. He is rather fearful of the truth getting out, though, and can be difficult to convince to simply admit what he's hiding. Even when he decides himself to speak up, he often pulls away at the last second.

Despite all of this, Astro remains optimistic and rather courageous. As powerful as he is, however, he is a very peaceful person, having stated "I really don't want to harm anyone." While not necessarily bound by (and was not even aware of, initially) the laws of robotics, which generally state that a robot cannot harm humans, he tends to follow them anyway, be it knowingly or inadvertently. He'd rather avoid conflict, opting for negotiation, submission, or simply fleeing, but if pressured he may attempt to disable anyone attacking him. If there is no other option, if he's backed into a corner, or if there are simply too many people in danger for any of his other options to work, he will fight. That being said, Astro tends to remain passive even when provoked, and is difficult to make angry, let alone violently angry. His willingness to spring to action comes from his determination to keep people safe and out of harm's way, not from rage, although he can be provoked enough to where anger is part of the equation. It just won't be the primary (or only) thing that drives him. He isn't susceptible to holding grudges, either; he will readily to someone's aid even if it's someone that previously hurt or attacked him.


Abilities:
When Tenma stated "I won't lose my son again," he wasn't kidding. Astro is nigh indestructible, and can take a very heavy beating without sustaining substantial damage, if any at all. He has been thrown through multiple buildings, sent falling from impossible heights, hit by a barrage of missiles, and even sent skidding through the street without sustaining a scratch (though the impact did leave him dazed, and the aforementioned missiles knocked him out). He's also incredibly strong, capable of not only lifting an iron beam, but flying around with it and swinging it around as well. With enough effort, he can even lift a solid iron robot at least twenty times his size (weighing "hundreds of tons"), or peel the iron casing right off of it. Astro can also dig through solid rock with his own hands at speeds matching and exceeding most drills. On top of that, he also has rockets built into his feet, allowing him the capability for flight at incredible speeds with some impressive maneuverability, and even laser canons in his arms. His vision is aided by bright blue lights built into his eyes (which are equipped with x-ray vision), and his hearing is very strongly amplified.

He also has machine guns. In his butt.

On top of it all, Astro is powered by blue core energy, a self-sustaining and very powerful energy source composed of pure positive energy. He is capable of lending this energy to other electronics or robots to revive them, much like recharging a dead battery, either directly from the core or through his fingers. If this core comes in contact with the Red Core, they will both be destroyed, effectively killing Astro. In addition, while the core is potentially infinite, he can't stay awake and running full-blast all the time. He does need to rest every so often, not unlike a human being, as any constant exertion can wear him out like it would anyone else.

Other things can prevent Astro from using his abilities. He still isn't experienced with or aware of most of them, even if they're programmed to appear when deemed necessary. There's also the fact that he'd rather not fight unless he really has to, and being bound, dazed, exhausted, or other similar situations can also prevent him from acting. He's also vulnerable to being electrocuted, which can stun him or knock him out.

On the more mundane side of things, Astro is incredibly brilliant in the realms of physics and robotics (although he's terribly modest about it, merely stating "I know a thing or two about robots."). He can solve equations and problems very quickly, often coming up with unique solutions. He's also built to be a very convincing human being, from fairly convincing skin right down to the usual mechanical sounds his joints make being silenced (although when he's worn out, this is typically the first thing to go).


Alignment: Daimonia. Not only is Astro a product of grief himself, he's had some prominent experiences with such sadness himself when being cast out and rejected for things beyond his control. However, he is a generally happy and positive kid, and many of his interactions with others stem from that optimism.

Other:


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Sample: TDM Thread!

Questions: