Echo Dusk/Secure File
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Echo Dusk/Echo Dawn | |
| Player: @Dalantia | |
| Origin: | Technology |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Blaster/Tanker |
| Security Level: | 39/9 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Eric Falco |
| Known Aliases: | Echo |
| Species: | Human, Scandinavian descent |
| Age: | Biological 17, Chronological 25 |
| Height: | 6'1" |
| Weight: | 258 lbs. |
| Eye Color: | Dark Blue |
| Hair Color: | Black, genetic predisposition to premature white |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | College Student, Licensed Hero |
| Place of Birth: | Harlan, IA |
| Base of Operations: | Kimballton, IA |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Mother (Elise Falco), Father (Philip Falco), Two sisters (Erica and Nicole Falco) |
| Known Powers | |
| None | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Precision archer, First Responder certification, Dragonet-style swordsmanship | |
| Equipment | |
| Cybernetic suite, including variable payload delivery system, cryogenerator, monomolecular blades, and nanodaggers | |
| Currently residing with Gentle Guardian | |
Reading past this point will pretty much guarantee you know who Echo Dusk is, why he's 98 percent mechanized, and why he is.. naive. If you don't want this knowledge spoiled, stay away. If you do, then read on, and more power to you - just don't use it in RP, as this file is stored on a computer unconnected to the internet, maintained by an entity not interested in sharing. >_>
Retrieving data on Human Subject 00005...
Contents |
Affiliations
Eric Falco currently is listed as Missing In Action, the Rikti War. His parents remain uninformed as to how he became involved. Echo Dusk has no affiliation with any Paragonian supergroup, though he is an active-duty member of the Vanguard.
Personality
Eric likely would have been the most self-effacing member of the Rapiers. Paladin was already becoming somewhat bitter, Syber was obnoxious at times despite being well meaning, Ice was aloof, and Regulator was often cocky. Eric's genetic defect led to him needing to make friends easily, along with needing to be aware of his intellect and wield it well. Eric shares a couple of traits with Echo in this regard - he was often unnecessarily verbose, and he often tended to jokingly refer to others as some kind of unit. His intuition was often almost as uncanny as his intellect, seeing things that others missed - it was that attention to detail that allowed him to discern the patterns between the Rapiers and the boys they wore as their disguises in daily life.
Echo, however, tends to use this joke, without it being a joke, as it were. All superpowered beings tend to earn the reference of unit - normal humans receive the tag of civilian and are marked sky blue on his HUD. His personal relationships earn people tags on his HUD:
- Squadmate: This person is currently in an active combat alliance with Echo. Superceded by any "relationship" tag. This tag is color-coded green.
- Allied: This person is in a supergroup with Echo, or is highly regarded by Echo. He is generally protective of his Allies. This tag is color-coded navy blue.
- Friendly: This person is considered to be a close personal friend. This tag is color-coded teal.
- Non-Hostile: This person possesses an overall friendly outlook toward Echo, though is not regarded as a friend. This tag is color-coded gray.
- Neutral: This person has had hostile interactions with Echo in the past, though has not actively engaged Echo in combat, nor has it established friendship. This tag is color-coded yellow.
- Unfriendly: This person has engaged Echo in combat, though it is either currently disinclined or unable to attack him at the current moment. This tag is color-coded orange.
- Enemy: This person has had hostile interactions with Echo to the point where Echo is disinclined to offer it aid in any situation. This tag is color-coded red.
- Hostile: This person is currently actively engaging or attempting to engage Echo in combat. This tag is color-coded red.
Echo seems to have insulated himself from his wants, as well. I would consider it almost creepy, but perhaps this is some indicator of spiritual purity. I sacrificed my own wants for decades in pursuit of the greater glory of the Empire, and wound up stuck in a research facility on a backwater world, so I happen to feel I am allowed to sneer a little at asceticism. Though it could be worse. I could be dead.
History
Eric was a prominent figure in the life of human subject 00001. Born with an unusual genetic defect that caused his bones to be exceedingly fragile, Seth displayed an unusual (for him) amount of empathy in winning Eric's friendship, and integrating him into the group of friends that would eventually become the Rapiers. Seth consciously avoided bringing Echo into the loop, however, when they actually made the decision to become said supergroup - out of a desire to protect him or a desire to have an unmodified (and arguably weak) human in the group to remind them what they're fighting for, perhaps?
Unfortunately for them, Eric took an interest in the supergroup, and began to track them as a hobby. When the Rapiers stepped up into a leadership role during the Rikti War, this hobby allowed Eric to figure out who at least one of the Rapiers was (Seth), and tail them to the research facility. This led to an argument that threatened to break up the group - Seth and Christopher were firmly against Eric joining the team, while Tyler and Jacob were in favor of allowing him to support them. Perhaps this is not a coincidence - Tyler and Jacob had chosen to mostly give up their out of costume lives in order to defend the world, while Seth and Chris had attempted to balance their lives with the alien threat. In the end, I was the one that decided the issue. I control the supply, I have my choice of consumers, to use an economic metaphor.
Eric Falco was fitted with the (designed on the spot, I hasten to add) Echo Series One (Dusk configuration - see Equipment section) implants in order to provide fire support for the heroic supergroup known as the Rapiers. Unfortunately, during the war, when Rikti forces were threatening to find the research facility, I chose to teleport Eric's cryo-recovery chamber away. When awakened, apparently Eric had thought of this possibility, and had provided himself with a letter directing him to find Seth or one of the other (now-deceased) Rapiers.
Echo woke up on May 9, 2007 (He sometimes cites mid-July, attributed mostly to losing a few months, and being generally incompetent with any kind of date). His cryo-sleep capsule was undiscovered, oddly, until opening on its own. When he reported its location to the authorities, signs that it was there were discovered, but it was apparently already recovered by someone else (Seth retrieved it when Echo came to talk to him. I do not wish my technology to fall into other human hands). At this time, Seth implemented my non-interference command - for better or worse, I am ordered not to interfere in Echo's life outside of Seth's home. Before finding the source of this letter, Echo was deceived into signing a job contract to act as lab assistant to Dr. Odylia Love. (Upon study by both myself and Nightstar Silver Wing, this contract turned out to be completely unenforceable - Echo could have won billions had he sued.) During the course of the month and a half before his capture by the Midnight, his memories were being unraveled, and he and the Doctor were developing a friendship and rapport - however, his capture by the Midnight occurred within this span.
Upon his release, he locked all of his memories from between his waking, and his release from the Midnight - he can regain access anytime through an outside password, though he is aware of a summarized version of the events in these memories. This is inconsistent with what I know of Eric or Echo - both of these would sooner face something unpleasant than run from it, as Eric did with his defect and Echo does with just about any circumstance he is in. A side-effect, unfortunately, of the Midnight's use of control and compulsion is that Echo's reconnection with his archival storage containing his pre-Echo memories was lost. The doctor's use of hypnosis worked well at reconnecting him, but it seemed to possess healing properties as well. The doctor's current whereabouts are unknown.
Powers
Eric Falco lacks inborn, genetic, or magical metahuman ability. The only genetic anomaly he possesses is an apparently rare defect that causes his bones to be exceedingly brittle - Eric had to be exceedingly careful even moving, wearing leg braces and using crutches simply to walk, and having to be carried up and down ladders. He had to be real careful when he got up to take a piss. (Administrator note: For the love of Christ, please, never make a Mass Effect reference again.) Even trivial impacts could cause fractures, to just about any bone - his medical records indicate multiple fractures even in the womb.
Echo Series One
The Echo Series One is my own design, with no equivalent in Kithar cybernetic research. Considering the extent of this.. modification.. it would be a great dishonor to even consider this in our society. Eric's disability allowed me to actually seriously consider this level of modification - replacing his bones and muscles (instead of reinforcing, a la Syber - I am loathe to waste quality materials, and Jacob was a fit and healthy human), right down to the skin.
Which I did.
Eric's body has been completely replaced, with a few exceptions. I happened to like the aesthetic of his long-fur (Administrator note: Hair. The word is hair, damnit.), so I kept it and the core of it. His skin (when it shows) is polysteel. His bones are pure impervium, his musculature a matrix of polysteel and impervium, allowing it to contract and relax with the proper electrical charge.
Eric contains two layers of external plating in his body, able to fold out for a rapid combat capability change - the first layer allows for limited access to coolant panels, while providing impervium plating over sensitive equipment. This limits his heat bleed (His cryogenerator functions best at temperatures below 90 degrees F), but allows longer in-combat capability by directing heavy fire to areas with easily-repaired plating. It suffers a fairly simple fault - when his auto-repair system runs out of supplies, it automatically shuts down to force Echo out of combat to prevent further damage. In the Dawn configuration, though, Echo seems to be able to override this - he only shuts down when he has suffered catastrophic damage to any essential system, automatically diverting power to life-support and autorepair.
His second layer of plating is a full-body cover, leaving only a few slits for coolant flush. He has modified this plating layer to include a pair of technologically-appearing wings. The Dawn configuration makes best use of this, using it to deflect heavy blows with minimal transfer to his internal systems. In this configuration, Echo ultimately looks fully mechanical - none of his polysteel "skin" shows. He could strip off his "helmet" and his face would shift to reveal his face and hair, but the rest of him is hidden and protected.
I made three separate nervous systems for Echo - one is the traditional human nervous system equivalent, both autonomic and conscious, in polysilica. The second uses a special solution that flows to all systems separately, transmitting impulses in a similar fashion as one uses the "normal" nervous system - however, it is much more resistant to severing and loss, and the fluid is easily replaced - though the vessels that transmit this fluid are also better protected than the average human's nervous system. The third is his polysteel skin - in emergencies, it can be adapted as a nervous system unto itself, but this requires that both his standard nervous system and his fluid system be disabled. I am not stupid enough to leave his mind unprotected, either. Like everything else, I made multiple routes of defense for Echo's mind. First, I set up a CPU core that mimicks the average artificial or robotic mind. It is, ultimately, a trap - it leads to nowhere, any damage it suffers will affect no actual systems, and the only entity they can even communicate with is myself. Second, a psychic buffer - the usual psychic static field surrounding an entity that makes it impossible to pick out surface thoughts, and requires a concentrated psychic attack in order to cause damage - that warns the defender that there is a psy attempting to read or attack them. Third is Eric himself - Eric's willpower is such that most nosy psions would find themselves hard-pressed to enter his mind without his permission.
The remnant of his brain that remains requires glucose and oxygen still. His coolant system seemed to be an ideal way to provide this, as well as maintain body temperature - therefore, I designed his circulatory system in a way that mimicked the human circulatory system, but was much less prone to failure - ultimately, remade in the same polysteel/impervium matrix as his voluntary muscles. I also made sure to have a redundant circulatory system as well - it takes a rather trivial injury to incapacitate a human. I wished Echo to be capable of combat even after significant damage to his systems - unfortunately, the automatic failsafes wound up overriding that too much. (If I seem to be paranoid about redundancy, I am. I am very much in favor of ensuring that something has some way to be done, even despite multiple failures.) The Dawn configuration is demonstrating how effective this truly was, though.
Dusk Configuration
The Dusk configuration is Eric's offensive focus. In this configuration, Eric's nanite system is set to provide arrows for the Variable Payload Delivery System (Administrator note: It's a bow, damnit (Celestine System further note: I can call it whatever I want.)), while his cryogenerator is used solely as interference, preventing enemies from closing to melee. Echo woke with this Configuration installed, and only after a couple of years in combat did Seth allow him to find out about the Dawn configuration.
His most famous trick in this form is his combat acrobatics - perpetually moving, showering areas with arrows. His heavy scatterfire (saturating an area with thousands of needle-thin arrows) is perhaps his most iconic maneuver, the archer unleashing a barrage of arrows that no man can hope to stop.
Echo's colors in this form are navy blue and steel gray.
Dawn Configuration
The Dawn configuration is Eric's defensive focus. In this configuration, Eric diverts his nanite production system to provide combat repairs, while his cryogenerator is focused on reinforcing his armor and body on the fly, to prevent critical damage.
And Eric's willpower is demonstrating itself to be a far, far more effective aid in protecting himself and his allies than my elaborate plans for his cryogenerator system.
To wax philosophical, here - I am constantly humbled by the amount of willpower humans display, be they male or female. The failsafes should kick in at approximately 50% combat integrity. Only when any ability to fight on is completely disabled does the Dawn configuration shut down and divert power to life support, and at times, Eric seems to be able to push the autorepair system to make emergency repairs even mid-combat, when his implants are reporting 10% capability - still he hefts those quarter-ton blades and keeps fighting, sometimes even daring his opponents to keep coming at him, despite the fact that he is losing circulatory fluid and sometimes nervous fluid. Eric will not let himself be defeated easily - he has been known to go down mid-swing, instead of retreating.
Oh, the quarter ton blades. Those were Seth's idea. I mentioned that Eric's maximum lift without strain was in the hundred ton range, so Seth wished to make use of the amount of momentum Eric could put into a swing. To Echo, these weapons are feather-light, agile, and skillfully used. Seth can barely lift one. Even the Dawncaller is frequently surprised at how hard Echo swings with those, and how hard they are to block. Monomolecular edges are standard, of course - I refuse to hand out low-quality weapons.
The nanodaggers were Echo's idea - they are an interesting application of the technology behind his arrows. By creating a cloud of nanites in place of a dagger blade, Echo never needs to be unarmed - he simply creates them from literally thin air, and sometimes can even bypass some forms of heavy armor without effort.
Echo's colors in this form are sky blue and steel gray.
Variable Payload Delivery System
Echo favors a bow for his main ranged weapon - while an archaic weapon, I have upgraded it with a variety of modern-day amenities, both Kithar and human. It hooks directly into his onboard targeting system, allowing expert accuracy even when firing rapidly or on the run - his laser sight is apparent on his HUD, also adjusted for local conditions or predicted target motions. The arrows adjust slightly in-flight to correct for minor errors in aim (His targetting system flags a target, and his arrows will home in to an extent, though only minorly), and possess a variety of payloads (most notably incendiary, scatterfire, and explosive, currently) for use on the battlefield. He also is as comfortable firing in perfect darkness or inclement weather as on a clear calm day - admittedly, this could have something to do with his ability to change his visual mode to infrared, ultraviolet, night vision, or anything else one might think of.
His arrows dissolve after impact, returning as nanites and reforming in his hands when his bow is readied. This seems to achieve the end of maximum firing rate and arrow conservation, and also allowing him to remain mostly unconcerned with ammunition during extended engagements - though after extremely heavy combat, he is voraciously hungry and will eat a meal intended for 4 without pause. This is because at least some of the nanites die off or are destroyed on impact or consumed for various payloads, along with needing nanites for repairs of essential systems.
The bow itself is an impervium compound bow, with a three-ton draw. That is not a miscalculation - Echo's bow possesses enough kinetic force to blow holes in a building or the sound barrier, if he used the proper arrow. The only reason he does not blow holes in his enemies is because his arrows generally dissolve slightly before impact, softening the impact to the point where it's more thousands of nanites tearing through someone, instead of a bolt moving at mach 4. If necessary, the arrows could remain solid through impact, striking one with the full force of three tons' worth of bowstring pull.
Cryogenerator
Echo's cooling system seems to be a key part of his cybernetics. A minty scent surrounds him constantly, that he handwaves as being part of his coolant system shunting harmless waste coolant in aerosol form. As he upgrades his systems, this shunt seems to become more pronounced, sometimes even visible, now. His "skin" remains at a cool 68 degrees Fahrenheit, whether he is in his combat armor or not, and his internal temperature is slightly lower. In combat, Echo can shunt or spray coolant to create interesting effects ranging from freezing an enemy in place to creating a hazardously slippery area, and chill the air around him to create a zone of near-absolute cold. He is also equipped with limited melee capability, focused around a nanite-core cryosword and a punch that sprays coolant on an impacted enemy. Most of his applications for the device center around preventing enemies from closing to an effective melee range.
Echo's most frequent incapacitations in combat come from coolant failures, amusingly.
While in the Dawn configuration, Echo's body temperature remains at around 75 degrees, when in combat armor, and around 80 when out. Running his generator at a higher temperature seems to allow him to quickly focus around problem areas, or adapt his defensive routines to the current assault on his person.
