[Character Sheet] CAM-501

[CAM-501]

The Basics
Name: CAM-501, but more often referred to as just 501.
Age: 23 years, relative to Earth year duration and lifespan of human, at death. A little hazy as to how long he's been robotic. Possibly a decade or two.
Apparent Age: Robot. At any given time, somewhat busted up, or shiny and almost new.
Gender: Male/genderless machine.
Height: 6 foot, give or take fractions of an inch.
Weight: The principle material of his construction is notorious for its density. Let's just say you don't want him standing on your foot. Apart from the likely impalement that might result.
Eye Color: Yellow.
Hair Color: No hair.
Physique: A humanoid robot with a crude imitation of a keynain (avian) face, three head "fins", four whiskers on either side of his head. His torso is somewhat cylindrical and is hollow, save for a radiating octahedral core and a swirling forcefield. He's a machine of tough black metal alloys and many, many little lights. He's also covered with more spikes than would ever be necessary.

Race: Robotic keynain.
Language: Common, Maratix dialect of Tz-tk (saa-kru language), Aeoril (keynain language) and marketspeak in the previous three
Religious affiliation: None.
Homeland: Sari, Keles, Floating Arm galaxy, universe 128 relative to Bluespace
Home/Location in Psychotopia: Station Zero, a condensed base of operations, a lab, and home for 501 and ten saa-kru.
Heraldic Symbol/Colors: At the moment, the Maratix symbol: And black and this shade of blue. Lots of it.
Companions/Friends: The saa-kru in his lab, as well as a bunch of sophonts on the other side of the vector clamp portal in Station Zero. Has links to Cirrial and Naine, albeit somewhat tenous.

Skills
Studies: Technology in general. From simple stone tools to the staples of Maratix. Too many teachers to count, and still learning.
Apprenticeships: None known.
Natural Abilities: Being a robot has its perks. Affinity towards machines, able to communicate and control devices through a direct brain-machine interface (but is highly vulnerable to viruses, which are more of an inconvienience than a threat), limitless stamina, increased strength, and resistance to most energy based attacks. Usually. There have been many, many exceptions.
He can also momentarily zone out to communicate with computational pseudointelligiences and programs linked to but not actually within his consciousness. In this way, he can pick up data consciously that he may have caught glimpses of but thought nothing of previously.
Additionally, if he is overloaded with energy, he can discharge it through systems in his arms, sending them out as beams of electrical, warp, light or whatever energies he's overfilled with. However, based on the amount of energy required to have enough to vent in this manner, it's more likely he would be struggling to even stay in one piece.
Occupation(s): Whatever comes up. CEO, bounty hunter, retail clerk, fast food sector... he's had a colourful work history. At the moment, professional slacker.
Financial Status: Theoretically one of the richest sophonts alive in the Floating Arm galaxy. In practice, likes to conserve his cash. Makes most of the things he uses, and the majority of his expenditure is on raw materials, not needing to eat and so forth.

Family
Mother: Teala. Originally a scientist involved in the Felsaw CAM project, she fled Felsaw. Partially because the war they were intended for grew to far larger and more violent proportions than anyone could have predicted, but mostly due to her personal abhorment at the war and its reason for existance. She met Keotl in Sari. Currently residing in the Marasphere, sector 4F, with Keotl.
Father: Keotl. Drafted into an increasingly suicidal military, he took a chance to escape as early as he could. After only one week of service he started running and never looked back. Upon finding the lands of Sari, a sanctuary for all those who opposed and had fled from the keynain-corvid war, he met Teala. Currently residing in the Marasphere, sector 4F, with Teala.
Brothers: None.
Sisters: Saori. Older than 501 by a good four or five earth-human-analogue years. Her somewhat anticlimatic and oddly suspicious death during a routine scouting mission motivated a young Sioreet to find out what the hell happened by joining the Enforcers as a scout. Exactly the same thing happened to him - but he came back.
Half/Step/Adopted Siblings: None.
Spouse: None.
Children: None.

Possessions
501's item inventory
Clothing: None. His body is his clothing. He does have specially tailored suits for formal occassions, but they're still not clothing in the conventional sense as much as fabric decals.
Jewelry: Unless being covered in tiny lights counts as jewelry, not applicable.
Weapons: Variable. On his person, he carries an ion pistol of Maratix design and specifications, which fires an electrical charge through the air in a mostly straight line, but has an erratic path around magnets and aims for metal surfaces away from 501. Occassionally, he will exchange this ion pistol for a keletian energy arm-sword, which attaches to his forearm and is a device projecting three blades of energy.
Armor: His body is constructed of an alloy consisting mainly of two Maratix trade materials; "darkened steel", which is a very strong, inflexible and dense metal alloy, and "ote", a crystalline substance which becomes stronger the more energy it absorbs, in violation of the laws of physics in any universe but its origin. Additionally, there is a persistant energy forcefield around his torso, which is flexible but almost impossible to penetrate.
Magical Items/Artifacts (and their powers): 501 is essentially a walking tube of plasma and warp energies. But he and his technology are not so much magic as sufficiently advanced technology. What's the difference? Almost none. This category could encompass nearly all of 501's possessions.
Currency: , Maratix standardised credits
Tools/Utensils: Too many to list. But for the sake of avoiding various potential deus ex machina situations, the tools he carries with him at all times before leaving Station Zero are his wings, which are physically attached to his body, anyway, and allow him the power of flight for a finite duration.
Books/Scrolls: A large array of technical manuals, books about Maratix, books about competitors, a veritable library. Most of it is lore pertaining to his home galaxy, and as such probably contains common knowledge to him and his companions but would be a treasure trove to anyone else.
Food: The octahedral core in 501's centre is the cause and container of a series of very, very small portals to Bluespace, a universe full of raw energy, and all the energy 501 requires (enough to power a large aircraft) is siphoned from either Bluespace or from generators in his home universe.
Medicinal Items/Herbs: None.
Are any of your possessions sentient? No.

Character Depth

Hello, viewers, and welcome to Galaxy and Beyond, and on today's show, we have no less than the esteemed co-founder of Maratix and all around VIP, CAM-501 himself!

"It's great to be on the show, Kelas. It really is. I'm a huge fan myself." Oh, great, toady up to the guy, why don't you?

Great to hear it, 5! Now, if you don't mind there's some questions the audience'd like you to answer, that sneppy?

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Go on, hit me with them. Not literally, though." Not literally?! Pfft, 501, you're flailing! Think, self, think. Focus. Relaaaax.

Whatever you say, my metal friend. Now, what kind of a person do you think of yourself as? Oh, and these aren't your typical two-cred questions, bear with me, it gets better.

"Hrrrm. Y'know, I thought I might get a question like that. And y'know what? I have no idea. I like to think I'm pretty casual in my outlook on life." Ahahahaha, "pretty" casual. "And some might describe me as pretty eccentric, but that's up to them to decide, in the end. I like to think I solve problems." Oh yes I do indeedy.

So, what wouldya say is your style? What would you do, say, if you came across some poor schpleck lying face down on the hard side of the sidestreet to Voyager's Salvation?

"Uhh..." Your poor use of outdated slang angers and enrages me in its misuse! "Well, help him up and help him out, I guess. I'm not really a cruel person, but sometimes I can be a little oblivious." Well, I guess if I realised he was there I'd really have no excuse. "Then again, I'm not one of these millionaire philanthropists."

Speaking of Voyager's Salvation, I spose you heard of that recent little spate they had over there. What would you have done if you were there?

Oh crap, a hard one. "Well, I, uh, er, I would have tried to find out as much as I could have before the drunken brawl and probably tried to sneak out before the first bar stool was thrown. Not that I can't hold my own in a fight..." Hello, universe! 501's apparently a brawler! Why can't I unsay things? "...I'd prefer to leave without causing harm or taking damage, really. I like to be considerate of other sophonts." Pacifistic or cowardly? Ah, well, I can't have it all.

Hey, topic shift. How do you get on with others and who's important to you, when it all comes down to the crunch?

...Crunch? Arrrgghh "Well, I get on fairly well with others." Bar excruciating thick-headedness, like the kind exhibited by chat show hosts. "I can put myself in their hypothetical shoes most of the time. Even if they're clogs or galoshes, ahaha!" Not-so-subtle metaphor which is likely to be ignored or missed by about 70% of the people watching this... "My friends are important to me, and I get along fine with them. I rely on them, they rely on me... it's all pretty trusting. I'd do a shout out but, well..." I'll probably screw their names up, on a show broadcast across the whole fricking galaxy. "Ah, who am I kidding? Hey Ak, Ka, and Tik! Or Tek! Whatever you prefer, ahahaha." Damn, why did I TRY?! "And a big greet to all the hard-working staff of Maratix across the galaxy... and beyond!" I still got it, whatever it be. Chat show mentality?

Awesome, man! Hey, can you tell us a bit about you? I mean, what was your life like and stuff?

Somewhat more productive and pleasant before agreeing to come on this show. "Well, y'know, normal upbringing. Everyone's sick to death of that story of how I became the robot I am today, what with the sudden and potentially tragic training exercise mishap. Let's just say I get someone else to do the driving now." Some day I'm going to blow that cover story. Badly. "All in all, though, I've had a pretty decent life. My current goals and what I hope to achieve are basically doing whatever I can to make life for all of us that little bit happier each day." Okay, so I just want to make cool stuff. How I said it sounds better.

So, what's important to you? I mean big important. Major type of important here. We're talking what would you give a few million creds just to get a chance at?

Well, I'd like to develop the one piece of technology that would solve all problems everywhere but that's impossible. "A really, really cool gadget that does everything you want." Well, I just thought and said the wrong things but surprisingly it still works. "And in the end, is that so different from what most of us want? As for needs, that's another thing. But yeah, technology is my life. I keep thinking I reach the top, then realise the mountain's another fifty feet higher. But it's not my only drive. I also like the odd, well, excursion."

Ah, you're famous for being the first sophont to fly a Lumi over the dust cloud of Alteda IX! What was that like, so totally sneppy?

"Oh, yeah, it was pretty awesome. Exhilirating like nothing else." Why did I know the conversation would drift to this?! Why were there cameras there in the first place?!

Well, we're out of time. It was great having you on the show, 5 to the 1. Next up, we've got an interview with the fish out of water himself, Naine! Stay tuned for unbelievable stories so fantastic you'll never take your luck for granted again!


The Saa-kru of Station Zero

When 501 decided rather spontaneously that the establishment of a "base camp" on an alien world would be a smart move, he decided to drag a few of his saa-kru friends and staff along with him. Exactly ten saa-kru occupy Station Zero, and given the size of Station Zero it is more than sufficiently large to accomodate each and every one's interests and needs.

The saa-kru members of Station Zero rarely venture outwards, instead preferring to work on automated systems to gather data far more efficiently than they could themselves. As they're completely aware of the fact Blackstar is inhabited, they're more concerned about forces back home finding out about concealment of first contact rather than the actions of any surprised natives.

Given the fact all they will likely ever do is provide backup support from a distance, they won't feature as much more than advice or information, practically.

Contact with 501 is through highly obsfucated and encrypted two-way radio transmissions, using existant radio transmission architecture. After previous mishaps involving 501's subconscious thoughts causing interference with his conscious thoughts, 501 replies audibly as opposed to mentally. His comlink is activated by three taps to the right side of his head. However, 501 speaks in Tz-tk when speaking and responding on this comlink, so it's likely to be unintelligible.

Notable Station Zero saa-kru

Although the crew manifest is at ten members at any given time, the crew is subject to frequent rotation and there are only ever three permanent members of staff in Station Zero at any given time.

Name: Ak-tse
Species: Saa-kru
Coloration: Black with faint lighter grey splotches.
Clothing: A white lab coat with many blue chemical stains over it. Somewhat permanently stained even when washed. Somewhat baggy greyish trouser-analogue garments over his abdomen.
Armor: None, really.
Skills: In the realms of Blackstar, Ak-tse is one of the factors keeping Station Zero stable. While 501 goes around on crazy adventures, Ak-tse makes sure what needs to be done is done. He's also a fairly skilled chemist. However, he isn't exactly specialised, and as such just has a broad knowledge of chemicals, and comparatively little practical experience.
Languages: Some Common, Tz-tk (Maratix dialect)

Name: Ka-tzu
Species: Saa-kru
Coloration: Black with grey stripes curving and spiralling over his hide.
Clothing: A saa-kru typical padded flight jacket, black with stripes of red, green and blue over it. Also, black trouser-analogue garments with blue, cyan and white fire motifs over them. Sometimes he wears a pair of dark gradient shades, custom fitted to saa-kru heads, just because.
Armor: The jacket's a little padded.
Skills: Ka-tzu is an excellent starship pilot, complete with raging ego. Unfortunately, the somewhat secluded self-imposed status of Station Zero's saa-kru means all he ends up doing is wandering around aimlessly, constantly asking 501 and Ak-tse about a quick recon flight around the planet. A few times, like ten or twenty. Just to really get all the details.
Languages: Barely any Common, Tz-tk (Maratix dialect)

Name: Tk-isa
Species: Saa-kru
Coloration: White with grey fractal coils.
Clothing: A blue jacket with a mauve shirt-analogue with the Maratix logo emblazoned on it, and greyish trouser-analogues.
Armor: None whatsoever.
Skills: Tk-isa is possibly the most valuable member of all of Station Zero. She's somewhat of an expert xenoanthropologist, managing to crack the most commonly used language in Blackstar after only a couple of weeks analysing texts. Not only does she speak fluent Common, but she's also been able to teach most of the rest of the saa-kru and 501 appropriate idioms and cultural trivia and references, to varying degrees of success.
Languages: Fluent Common, Tz-tk (Maratix dialect)

Additionally, the benevolent watcher, overseer and general protector artificial consciousness of the Marasphere, NIDS, has a presence in Station Zero, as well.

Name: NIDS
Species: Maratix artificial consciousness
Coloration: Avatar varies between Maratix emblem and a loose representation of her original physical form, the torso and head of an original-style CAM unit connected by thousands of wires and cables to unseen sockets.
Clothing: Non-physical construct.
Armor: Non-physical construct.
Skills: NIDS supplies intelligience about events occuring in the Marasphere, Maratix's artificial home planet/death star, but more importantly has the ability to focus on several tasks at once with an attention span most sophonts dream of for each task.
Languages: It'd be easier to list languages not known.