Dame Demolition
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| "Fatal Error" Detail (C) 2007 by Graver | |
| Dame Demolition | |
| Player: @SoulTrain | |
| Origin: | Tech |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Mastermind |
| Threat Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Lucretia de Loccia |
| Known Aliases: | Lucy |
| Species: | Cybernetically Augmented Human |
| Age: | 35 |
| Height: | 5'11" (6'4" with her "stiletto heel" leg armor) |
| Weight: | 210 lbs (cybernetics) |
| Eye Color: | Brown |
| Hair Color: | Black |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | United States |
| Occupation: | Roboticist, terrorist |
| Place of Birth: | Chicago IL |
| Base of Operations: | Sharkhead Isle, Etoile Islands |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | None noted |
| Known Powers | |
| Robots/Traps | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Robotics Engineering, Software Design, AI Design, Metal Fabrication, Electronics | |
| Equipment | |
| see text | |
 The following may contain artwork or prose that is inappropriate for young readers. No, it doesn't concern sex. It's mostly about highly invasive surgery, dismemberment, and all the pain and gore that goes with. It's not nearly as bad as Saw or Hostel, but it's still kinda... icky. So, yeah, you've been warned. | |
You see me now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars
I've been living on the edge so long
Where the winds of limbo roar
And I'm young enough to look at
And far too old to see
All the scars are on the inside
I'm not sure if there's anything left of me
- Blue Oyster Cult, "Veteran of the Psychic Wars"
Dame Demolition is an extreme case of what can happen when someone puts their all into a job, gets injured, and then hung out to dry. A roboticist and AI expert whose legs and one arm were amputated by an accident on a Crey "Black Ops" project, she was denied benefits to have the limbs replaced. So, she elected to replace them on her own, and turned to high-tech breaking-and-entering to finance her research, materials, and ultimately her return to the world of the able-bodied. In her mind, she's 'collecting on a debt', and if Crey wants to brand her a criminal due to her retaliatory actions, so be it.
Contents |
Philosophy and Personality
Lucy was at one time your quintessential geek. Extremely intelligent, yet socially a bit lost.
However, when one loses one's limbs in an accident, and then one is told that the procedures to fit replacement limbs aren't covered on one's health coverage OR Workman's Compensation policy... well, one tends to get a little angry.
Since quitting her job at Crey, she's become extremely driven, some would say obsessed. All she wants is to visit the same pain and loss on the company, as was visited on her.
The pain she's had to endure to rebuild her limbs has forged her into a cold and dispassionate killer. While a small portion of her psyche yearns for companionship, she knows she'll probably never find anyone who either understands her need for vengeance, or would see her as anything but 'disfigured'. She can't stand pity, and sexual desire based on her disfigurement (amputee fetishism a la "Boxing Helena") is worse.
She looks upon Freakshow with singular disgust, as although they are also cyborgs, their rationale (as well as their workmanship) is to her crude and unfocused. "Shade-tree mechs" is her term; they're playing with cybernetics, whereas she is an artisan and a professional. Their use of the painkiller drug "Excelsior" as a recreational high and as a means to avoid cybernetic part rejection is to her an abhorrent kludge. As such, when she's been propositioned by these anarchists, she usually responds by simply shooting them until they stop twitching, or she has her robots 'repossess' what they can of their cybernetic parts, usually by brute force, and without benefit of anaesthetic.
The Arachnos designs she looks on as refined, yet horrific, and the research she's done into the Weaver methods of integration make her blood run cold. So again, she usually does her best to reduce Arachnos cyborgs to component parts, mainly to put them out of their misery.
Crey's more 'subtle' designs, mainly with the Infiltrator and Vigilant programs, are to her more aesthetically pleasing, but again, she knows all too well what the procedures entail (and how much they cost, usually permanently indenturing the 'recipient' to Crey, to offset the 'budget outlays'.)
Lucy doesn't LIKE being part machine. She looks at this state as something thrust upon her by Fate, not something to be taken advantage of (although she's the first to admit she's 'more' than she was as a mousy and shy robotics engineer). Those that advocate cybernetics as a means to 'become better' usually get a look of utter disdain (if not outright hostility). However those that have turned to cybernetics to replace something lost, or to save their lives, she looks upon as brothers and sisters.
On an intimate level, Lucy is conflicted. She had two abortive relationships before the accident, both with co-workers that turned out to be less than satisfying, each lasting less than a couple of weeks. Post-accident, her disability has thrown a large spanner in any thoughts about a relationship (see the "pity" entry above). She craves companionship, but not for the wrong reasons... she wants someone who recognizes who she is as a person, without keying to her cyborg nature either as a fetish or as her being 'less than human'.
Lucy has always been attracted to both male and female genders; she has no issues identifying herself as 'bisexual' if asked.
Affiliations
Crimson Dawn
Lucy was struggling to make ends meet with small theft jobs when she was approached by a tall dark-skinned woman, carrying strong Indian features. Introducing herself as "Samira", the woman said that, if Lucy was amenable, there was a criminal cartel that could use her talents. After careful deliberation (and some rather persuasive attention from Samira), Lucy joined the group, and quickly was promoted to Shogun.
However, with the Crimson Dawn's dissolution, she's now freelancing.
She has also been working with Katarina Zemanova, a 'replicant' succubus, as well as the enigmatic kunoichi Jonin Princess.
Stiletto-Heeled Executioners
No. These are not the heroic good-goody-two-shoes girls.
Powers
Lucy is a cyborg - as a result of losing three out of four limbs in a 'work-related accident' she has built replacement limbs for herself. These limbs are integrated with her skeletal, muscular, circulatory, glandular, and nervous systems, and in addition to giving her normal mobility, also confer several benefits. Added to this is her professional skills as a robotics engineer, although her 'bots don't follow the usual 'three laws' designs or constraints.
Robotics
Her primary profession is as a roboticist; put simply, Lucy builds robots. Of course, she's no longer building robots that serve drinks or disarm bombs or do anything else so self-sacrificing. Her robots are her personal army, and when each has been outfitted with a full offensive payload, they become an extremely formidable force.
She's finally amassed enough materials, plans and parts to build a full squad - three Battle Drones, two Protectors, and an Assault model.
- Drone: "Zeppo, Harpo, and Groucho" - equipped with pulse lasers. The lasers can be fired in rapid bursts, a highly-energized bolt, or a 'full auto' spray. These robots can also wallop foes at melee range with their work-arms.
- Protector: "Abbott and Costello" - Each carries a shield generator to deploy forcefields around other robots, mortars, supplemental shield generators, seeker drones, or Lucy herself. They also have the capability to perform repairs to other robots even during battle conditions. Each is armed with a heavy pulse laser, as well as dual seeker drone bays and a 'flashbang' energy grenade launcher, which provide exceptional jamming/disorient capability.
- Assault: "Buster" - This hulking behemoth of a robot is armed with a Folding Fin Aerial Rocket (FFAR) launcher rack (packing both explosive and incendiary payloads), twin plasma cannons and a flamethrower. The bot will occasionally forgo shooting something with a cannon-tipped hand, and instead simply pummel it into the ground with the barrel, if it happens to be standing within reach.
All-Terrain/Urban Suspension
All of Lucy's robots have heavy-duty leg actuators and suspensions; they are capable of multi-story leaps[1].
They are also completely incapable of stealthy approaches, on any terrain whatsoever. They sound like a herd of jackhammers low on lubricant when they're at full speed.
Tightband Realtime Telemetry System
Lucy has fairly decent control over her bots, but is the first to admit that their AI needs work. To get around this, she's instituted a real-time telemetry system[2] that allows her to monitor, adjust, and override the onboard AI at any time. The downfall to this system is range - beyond about a hundred feet, signal attenuation and interference starts to degrade the data. However, within that range, the TRTS system will confer a slight bonus to accuracy and attack effectiveness for all robots under her command.
At extreme ranges, when the telemetry uplink degrades into complete uselessness, the robot(s) will automatically lift off and redeploy to Lucy's current location.
Attack Sequence Prediction
Along with the telemetrics system, Lucy has written a subroutine called A.S.P.[3] When her bots have been placed into A.S.P. mode, they institute a protocol wherein they attempt to heuristically anticipate any incoming attacks, and move to block them as best they can. This doesn't protect Lucy completely, but any attack that hits her will have its damage divided up at a 2:1 ratio (for three points of damage, Lucy will take two, and her bots will each take one.)
Traps
Lucy has also devised several insidious devices to augment her robotic minions, or cause distress to her foes.
- Her Emetic Gas traps are particularly evil - when triggered, they can reduce entire groups of enemies to staggering, puking, choking helplessness. The system is an aerosol, and she can 'swap out' different compounds depending on the foes encountered[4], or the desired results. As an experiment she 'weaponized' a canister of male pheromones and set the trap at the feet of the geekiest, most sexually repressed male she could find in the D, merely to see if she couldn't 'speed Nature along her course'. She later encountered the man wearing a white linen suit and a pair of Ray-Bans, with two rather comely maidens close at hand, so perhaps her prank did have the desired result.
- She also uses a mortar system that fires canisters of acidic liquid, which degrades armor fairly readily. Lucy has done her best to tailor this to nonliving matter, but it is still causes a nasty itchy rash when applied to bare skin[5].
- For flying or highly mobile targets, she has a bandoleer of grenades that contain a 'fluid net' - a slurry of high-tensile fibers and polymers suspended in a fast-evaporating liquid. When they burst, anything they hit will find itself imprisoned in what amounts to high-strength spiderweb, although most can fight their way free within about 30 to 60 seconds. This does prevent most fliers from taking off, and some will be brought down, as they can no longer move control vanes or wings to generate lift.
- For when a fight is going badly, she can deploy what is commonly called a "triage beacon" - this is a bio-regenerative field emitter that boosts the healing or self-repair rate of those in close proximity. It doesn't provide instant relief, but is sometimes enough to stave off all but the worst incoming damage. There is some concern that foes will be able to hijack the effects, so Lucy has taken pains to make the device tune-able to specific bio-signatures or machinery[6].
- A Shield Generator design (stolen from the Sky Raiders) allows her to summon a floating drone that carries nothing but a forcefield generator. This shield diffuses most 'status effect' type attacks, so that while underneath it, Lucy or her minions/allies cannot be easily slept, held, immobilized, or confused [7]. However, the power consumption of the shield generator tends to make the drone overheat, and it will usually explode within a few minutes of being deployed.
- A pair of Seeker Drones can be deployed - these flying mini-UFO's will home in on an enemy, and then explode in a bright flash of light and a loud boom. This is enough to disorient all foes in the immediate vicinity, even robotic ones. Lucy's also discovered that many foes don't much care for these drones, and tend to shoot at them on sight. As such, they make wonderful "canaries" for springing carefully laid ambushes and traps. Watch the birdies, suckers...
- For area denial and demolition, Lucy uses a standard antipersonnel trip mine. This laser-activated explosive can be set down on a floor, and then tuned to special IFF transponder frequencies to prevent 'friendly' detonations. When one of the laser sensors is tripped and the IFF code is not received, the shaped C4 charge will detonate, with heavy damage dealt to anyone close to the blast.
- And finally... for when things are really going bad... all of Lucy's robotic minions are equipped with a self-destruct charge. Granted, it means one less robot, but sometimes, a big explosion comes in handy.
Additional Powers
For times when Lucy is caught without her robot entourage, or to augment their already-formidable firepower, she carries a laser pulse rifle.
Flight
Lucy's prosthetic legs incorporate an anti-gravity flight system, which allows her full combat mobility in 3 dimensions. Her armored suit incorporates boot jets to add to her speed and mobility, but the main system is fully functional even when all armor and supplemental systems are removed.
She's also installed rockets and antigravity systems in her robots, although their weight and lack of control surfaces makes them a bit slow.
Tactical Analysis Runtime
Lucy has had many hours to devise improvements in the software that commands her mechanical minions. Her T.A.R. software suite[8] has proven to be particularly useful, in that it can also provide real-time tactical data to her comrades as well as her troops. This allows everyone she is allied with to take advantage of any weaknesses detected by the combat targeting system in her helmet.
Mu-Based Cantrips
Charged Armor
Scirocco has taught Lucy how to invoke a shield of sorts, a network of charged Mu lightning that shields her from some attacks. At first, it interfered with her cybernetics, but she has managed to solve that problem, although now she must deal with added energy consumption.
Eldritch Fences
A variant of the armor, this cantrip allows Lucy to encase several foes within 'cages' of Mu lightning, immobilizing them.
Lightning Shackles
Lucy has also learned how to cast this very powerful spell, which will trap a single foe in lightning, sapping their endurance.
Abilities
Lucy is extremely skilled with computer logic systems, neural net programming, nanotech culturing and programming, mechanical engineering, CAD design, precision machining, and microelectronics. She's also had to become expert in human anatomy, as the long and painful process of fitting her own cybernetics has required her to do.
Weaknesses and Limitations
Three out of four of Lucy's limbs are mechanical. Were she to suffer an EMP attack, or her machine parts were otherwise disabled, she would be rendered helpless except for her left arm.
Equipment
Lucy's armor incorporates several notable devices.
- A control pad is built into the armor on her left forearm, for summoning her robots and shield generators.
- Her trap components are carried within her belt and the bandoleers she wears over her torso.
- Her helmet contains a fully-functional heads-up-display, as well as digitally encrypted radio telemetry and communications gear[9].
- After receiving the transponder codes for Pocket D's teleporter array, she augmented her own Arachnos hospital transponder to also work with DJ Zero's club. She has since built in transponder codes for several villain groups, able to teleport to their bases at will[10]. She has also written a rather elegant 'hack' into the Arachnos transport systems to allow teleportation to specified lat/long/altitude coordinates[11], but when used, the spoofed access code must be discarded and another calculated, lest Arachnos intercept her transport order and reroute her into a prison cell, or worse. The calculations for the next spoofed code take approximately 2 hours to process.
Character History
Lucy's background/origin, in her own words.
Rikti Conflict
Up until recently Lucy has only fought in local battles in the Isles, waging guerrilla warfare against the Rikti whenever they show up in her vicinity. However, Vanguard has seen fit to supply her with ammunition and parts to fully arm her robots, in exchange for carrying out Vanguard assignments. The kicker wasn't so much going after aliens... the War Zone was home to a lot of Crey factories and research facilities, and having access to it all has her practically salivating.
The thought of being able to blow any Crey agents she finds to oblivion is, of course, a bonus.
History in the Re-Making
Lucy was accosted in the street by a simple man wearing an archaic waistcoat of brown and gold, with an odd squared-off infinity symbol as a lapel pin. Identifying himself only as "Mender Jakob", he pressed a device into her hand said a few words[12], and walked off. She's discovered the nature of the device, which she calls a "temporal garage-door-opener". She has used it to personally ensure the success of her own breakout from prison, by planting a bandoleer of web grenades and her 'spare' pulse rifle in a weapons locker, and then calmly killing enough of the guards and Longbow troops to ensure that the Arachnos attack and prison riot couldn't be easily quelled.
Scirocco's Girl Friday?
Lucy was offered the opportunity to speak to one of Recluse's lieutenants, and she chose Scirocco, as his sense of 'ethics' seemed to be close to her own. She's learned that having a sense of ethics can be dangerous, as already Arbiter Daos has pulled her aside and told her to watch Scirocco closely for any signs of rebellion or seditious behavior.
Temporal Strife
Lucy discovered a shadowy group calling itself the Midnight Club. As part of the initiation, she discovered, researched, and ultimately foiled a plot that would have enabled the Rikti to appropriate magickal energies for their own ends.
She then discovered the Midnighter's greatest artifact - a Crystal of Fire and Ice that was tuned to an ancient Roman city-state! She traveled there, and was soon caught up in a civil war - one that would have effects far forward to her own time, and beyond[13].
Assault on Grandville
(Alternate Future)
Lucy attempted to jam three EMP-warhead missiles that would have otherwise detonated within the Grandville Web, and took one pretty much point-blank. The resulting electromagnetic pulse wiped her systems and fused her cybernetics, leaving her a paraplegic. She's currently stranded in the Ouroboros Enclave, with no ability to get 'home'.
Trivia
- Lucy was originally conceived as paralyzed, not an amputee. However, I felt she was more 'driven' if she'd actually lost limbs, instead of just the use of her legs.
- Up until I saw the linework for Graver's illustration, I conceived Lucy's legs as prosthetics, able to be removed when needed. Graver has since inspired me to make her a full cyborg, with the robotic parts permanently attached. I've yet to figure out what this does in regards to her love life.
- After having named her robots for early slapstick comedy figures, I managed to 'script' her two protector bots into performing the Abbott and Costello "Who's On First!" routine in its entirety. It usually gets pretty good reviews, although occasionally someone will shout "Quit spamming the Pets channel!" The audience usually tells the hecklers to shut up and let the routine finish.
- Lucy does have a soft side, especially for fellow humans who are facing disabilities. She's used her neural net programming to 'upgrade' the "off the rack" exoskeletal spine of a heroine who got her back broken in a Rikti bombing raid. This allowed the woman to learn to move more naturally, and regain her previous talents as a ballet dancer and acrobat. Lucy asked for nothing for this act, stating "if Crey Biotech had any ethics, I'd not have to clean up their mess."
- In her 'downtime', Lucy enjoys comedy shows and sitcoms from the early days of television, as well as BBC radio programs such as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. She's sure that if she ever met Kryten from Red Dwarf, they'd hit it off famously.
- Lucy could be considered a parallel to (rather than a derivative from) Motoko Kusanagi, from Ghost in the Shell. I was playing her for almost a year when I saw the original movie and then the first episode of Stand Alone Complex... and the parallels were scary.
Rumors
Have you heard something juicy about Lucretia de Loccia? Add it here!
Musical References
- Blue Oyster Cult, "Veteran of the Psychic Wars"
- Thomas Dolby, "Armageddon"
- Billy Idol, "Shock to the System"
- Blue Man Group feat. Esthero, "White Rabbit"
- Tangerine Dream, "Hamlet"
- Icehouse, "Sister"
- Soulstice, "Illusion"
- Mono, "Silicone"
- Jan Hammer, "Transformers"
- Yoko Kanno and Scott Matthew, "Lithium Flower" (From GiTS:SAC Season One)
Artwork Credits
- Detail of "Fatal Error" (C) 2007 by Graver
- Lucretia and Robots (C) 2007 by John Becaro
Footnotes
- ↑ Super Jump
- ↑ Supremacy
- ↑ Bodyguard Mode
- ↑ How else would one explain non-corporeal entities such as Thorns Spectres, Shivans, or Clockwork puking?
- ↑ The Acid Mortar's Resistance Debuff affects everyone, but the damage it causes is rather trivial, enough to be a distraction.
- ↑ You would think that these 'field effect' devices WOULD affect foes, but they don't. How? I dunno!
- ↑ I think the Generator confers Mag 2 resistance to status effects. I do know that it COMPLETELY NEGATES the 'stun' associated with using an Awaken. Too bad the generator blows up if Lucy faceplants.
- ↑ Leadership
- ↑ The heads-up display Lucy sees projected onto her helmet visor is the game GUI itself.
- ↑ These are the Pocket D VIP Pass and the Supergroup Base Teleport vet reward.
- ↑ Mission Teleporter
- ↑ "Now is not where you belong."
- ↑ Imperious Task Force
