Latest revision as of 03:20, 13 May 2024

Character Information

Caliban
ValueError; CalibanCaliban
CalibanCalibanCaliban
CalibanCalibanCaliban
CalibanCalibanCaliban
Discord	@sleevey.
Reddit	[1]
Metatype	m̶o̶n̶s̶t̶e̶r̶Elfm̶o̶n̶s̶t̶e̶r̶M̶O̶N̶S̶T̶E̶R̶
Street Cred	EntryIncomplete
Notoriety	Two.
Public Awareness	0
Titles and Awards	Creature, Fiend, Wretch, Devil, Monster
CDP	0
D.O.B.	Unknown
Age	20
Folder	[2]
Priority	Metatype - B ; Attributes - B ; Magic/Resonance - A ; Skills - E ; Resources - E

Caliban

ii

So I summoned Caliban. She was

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤsquat and ugly

Sometimes she cried. Sometimes

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤshe lied.

She was so sly and sometimes

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤso forthright she disgusted me.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ"Come, little Caliban,

I take you by the hand

ㅤㅤㅤWe will walk upon the sand to the bright, blue sea."

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤBut she knew

As we walked towards the cliff what fate I had in mind

And broke from me

ㅤㅤㅤAnd so, we run across the sand;

The little murderer

chased by monstrous me

trying to save herself

‎‎ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤand me from me.‎‎

Summary?

I am Caliban. The matrix's cruel branches are my plaything and prison, for I know their every cruel song. Resonance and Dissonance. Teakettles and Brandy. Raincoats and Soft, Soft Skin. I would exact my vengeance upon this canvas that has wronged me.

Goals

If there is a God of the matrix, I would like to see him dying.

Let me comprehend whatever thing ripped the veil from my eyes so that they may be judged.

I should like to find a place where I am safe and warm and it is quiet next.

History

Caliban can only just remember the days when Caliban was not Caliban. Cold streets and a colder home. Stuttering and stumbling. Flashes of memory slipping through the cracks of a broken mirror.

Caliban remembers the matrix. One day, Caliban awoke and the matrix swept out before them. Too cold and quiet for them to find it before, this day the matrix opened its welcoming to Caliban and Caliban was embraced. Caliban hates that Caliban remembers how warm it was then.

The cold house grew colder and Caliban was hidden and secreted away within its depths because they were afraid of Caliban and how warmly Caliban was embraced. Caliban could play freely amidst that open space, Caliban could dance with the words of the departed and Caliban could sing their forgotten songs. It was beautiful to Caliban.

The embrace was a lie. Caliban remembers the day well. Caliban danced and sung the same songs but something reached out and snatched Caliban. When Caliban's eyes opened, Caliban sat on that soft beach, Caliban clutched the sand and Caliban saw Human Malice stretch out before them.

It is an impossible thing to describe. All that is horrible that metahumanity has pushed onto the matrix is there but so much more. The world is filled with cameras. They see so much and that place is always watching. Caliban learned so much there, the songs sung to Caliban, Caliban wished Caliban did not hear. The the songs of murder and torture and Mitsuhama and the tree and the serpent all beamed directly to them. To the outside world, Caliban closed Caliban's eyes for a few months but to Caliban, it was timeless. Ageless. They existed on that pale sand and they watched for so so long.

Eventually, Caliban had enough. Caliban thrashed and clawed and bit at that place until it gave way and Caliban crawled back to the grid. A piece of that place stayed with them. That warm place had become cold. Caliban knew what lay behind that warm embrace. The torture and experimentation. It was a lie. The one place Caliban had felt at home was a lie. No matter how tender, no matter how exquisite, a lie remains a lie.

The world did not miss ugly Caliban. When Caliban tried to speak, Caliban's words were faltering and slow. Caliban was a monster for this. When Caliban found those like Caliban and kneeled before them, they called Caliban a monster and burned Caliban. Caliban tried again. And again. And again. Caliban was burned each time. Caliban tried to move on from the cold house and the lie. Caliban failed. To be Caliban was to be failure.

Finally, Caliban's stuttered words found purchase, Caliban found allies, weapons, tools, work. Caliban's purpose would be made real.

"At this hour Lie at my mercy all mine enemies."

Let the lie be unmade and let Caliban be warm once more.

Timeline

Early 2065: the entity that would later come to be known as Caliban is born to a pair of CATCo Sinners, Durga Namjoshi and Francis Turner and given the name 'Miranda Namjoshi. Later that year, CATCo loses its AA status, placing the families SINs into a state of flux.

2068: Durga and Francis are given provisional work SINs by the UCAS government for managerial and secretarial work respectively.

2070: the families SINs are shuffled away beneath the paperwork and vanished from official records. Miranda, being five years old and unable to work, possesses no provisional work SIN. The family scrounges together enough funds for a FAKE sin for the child.

2070 - 2078: Little Miranda is enrolled in entirely online schooling, thanks to fewer checks regarding the SIN. From a young age, Miranda displays prodigal reading, writing and math skills but is stunted socially.

Late 2079: The family loses their provisional work SINs, relying entirely on low income work and Miranda's existing Fake SIN to stay afloat. Miranda takes a variety of matrix related work to support their family, although existing tensions within the family start to boil over.

2080: Miranda Namjoshi emerges as a technomancer after a fight with her parents. A few days later, she receives an anonymous full ride scholarship to MIT&T, attended virtually. Doubly impressive, thanks to her young age. Her FAKE sin is, miraculously, never exposed. She moves into a dorm, dedicated for long distance college students attending virtually.

2080 - 2083: Prodigal, brilliant Miranda Namjoshi spends the next few years learning and studying, proving to be a promising decker and an even more promising academic. She attracts the attention of one Penelope Ann Xavier and studies beneath the esteemed academic, being hired to work as her secretary. Along the way, she makes contact with Cecilia Cross of CATCo, alongside several other important connections. She is able to painlessly transition, as well as receive some QoL augmentations to better work with.

January 16th, 2083: Miranda's thesis prepwork runs into a slight hiccup. Rather than wait several months for paperwork to file through the system, unarchiving old NEONet archival data for past host sculpting, Miranda decides to cut out the middleman and dive directly into a number of relevant host archives. The first several go off without a hitch but on the last one, something goes wrong. She goes missing within that host, pulls free the peeling wallpaper and dives into the mad house beneath. She falls away ... away ... away ... away ...

January 16th, 2084 - ?̵͓̠̊?̸̹͒͋?̸͍̠̔: time without time within time in that place in that hell every year a drop of blood and it fills an ocean every millennia a pulled tooth and they pile up like mountains i know nothing but that place i am that place within without I am Caliban that place named me it scratched its name on me Caliban I am Caliban now

January 16th, 2084 - December 3rd, 2084: The entity formerly known as Miranda Namjoshi is hospitalized for several months for an unknown cause, exhibiting similar symptoms to those trapped within foundations or the resonance realms. During this time, her SIN is placed under proper scrutiny and is burned, resulting in her expulsion from MIT&T. Her meager savings allow her to remain on life support in a back alley clinic, however she experiences severe muscle atrophy during this time.

December 3rd, 2084: Caliban wakes up and leaves the clinic. She is astounded by the ugliness of the world.

December 3rd, 2084 - Present Day: Bitter, angry Caliban sharpens her blades against the crime that is the matrix, gathering her weapons with which to slay a GOD.

Narrative Significant Qualities

Positive

A Beast of the Sea's Making (Codeslinger: Data Spike, Instinctive Hack): Caliban must strangle it, choke the life out of it, choke the light out of it, cut the serpents head, strip the tree's branches, cage the sprinter, mask the fool

Prodigal Fool (College Education, Speed Reader, Trust Data Not Lore): Caliban knows the shape of the sea, has been steeped in its lies since even before the waves took them away. Caliban remembers the beach and the sea washed away everything else that was not its brilliant blue.

It Yet Lives (Lucky, Paragon: The Soldier): The Sea spared Caliban and Caliban still can make out its detestable whispers, honeyed words spit from fat lips. Ugly words that would make Caliban tear at the world's shell to silence them.

Negative

Ḓ̴̔ȇ̸̫c̵̹̄ͅa̸̱̅͂y̶̟͝i̸̲͂n̴̥͝g̸̢̐ ̸̨̞̃́D̶̰͋̆ͅï̸̪s̸̲̍s̷̟̟̾͊o̶̻͗̒n̸̙̍ả̷͉͗ń̴̠c̵̩̖͐e̴̳̾ - I brought that piece back with me and I am that piece that I brought back with me and I would make it my sword and shield and I would cut them with it and I would hide myself with it and I would be made safe by it. I would sing the songs I learned upon that brook but you would not delight in them as I do not delight in them. I would dance the dance of that beach and you would cry and tear at your eyes and face and beg the monster to quiet. Tearing off a bandage always hurts but it needs to be done. It needs to be done.

Albinism - I am soft-bellied and the sun detests my meager form.

don'tlookatmedon'tlookatmedon'tlook (Bad Rep, Impassive, Poor Self Control: Remain Out of Sight of Observable Cameras) - They know what I am they know my speech is faltering and slow they know what I have seen I cannot keep it from them they whisper out rancid songs sung across decaying music halls amidst floorboards swarming with termites and they have the audacity to balk when I shun their putrid chorus go away go away from me

Records on File (Cross Applied Technologies) - I am folded into lines of code and swallowed by the beast that wears the skin of my fellows that devoured them whole and so many others to live I do not live the shadow within the beast is not me

Run History

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Affiliations

Contacts

Contact	Connection	Loyalty	Archetype	Profession	Aspects	Chips
G01bez and 0-MUS	2	5	Service	Matrix Siblings Decker and Technomancer Tag Team Duo	Overprotective, Technology Connections, Technomancer, Double Trouble, Sibling Synergy	Even
Aisee Yuunao	3	4	Service	Rogue Surgeon AI	Better Safe Than Sorry, Digital Denizen, Encyclopedic, Anatomist, Mechanical Mind, Ripper Network	Even
Cecelia Cross	5	2	Networking	CATco Employee	Secret Technomancer, Woman Scorned, Tech Expert, Matrix Master, Corporate Life, Network Angel	Even
Hextech	4	2	Custom(G,A,K,N)	Black Stalker	AI Expert, Engineer, Technomancy, Cybertechnologist, Custom Armory	Even
Angela	4	3	Fixer(K,N,G,A)	Library Organizer and Teacher	A Bird in a Cage, Techno Teacher, It's In a Book, Hidden Knowledge, Under the Belly of the Beast, Host Dweller	Even
Bootstrap	4	3	Networking	Reality Hacker Lieutenant, Decker	Reality Hacker, Decker, BTL Producer, Rival Destroyer, Dealer	Even

Organizations

Allies

Enemies

In Character Information

Symbols and Signatures

Wounds, scars upon the skin and flash of matrix.

Matrix Search Table

Threshold	Result
1	Caliban is the name of the half-human monster in Shakespeare's play, the tempest. It is an ugly, misshapen monster filled with nothing but hate and vitriol. You can find an number of articles picking into the significance of the character from various angles and in different contexts. It is also the name given to an expensive commlink produced by Fairlight, keeping with their fantastical naming conventions
3	A quote sticks out to you, by one Russell Hoban, an American fiction writer. "Caliban is one of the hungry ideas, he's always looking for someone to word him into being ... Caliban is a necessary idea." Hungry. Necessary. Where has Caliban gone?
6	You have found Caliban. Whispers of an ugly, misshapen beast clambering across the matrix. It is a violent and ugly thing and those that venture too close will hear its mad ramblings. Ramblings about a beach and its trees and a brook and the mad ocean. Stay away from Caliban.

Shadow Community Table

Threshold	Result
1	"Huh? Ya mean the commlink?"
3	"Oh yeah, yeah. I know the one. Real freak. Hacks good but they ain't subtle. Pretty face but creeps people out."
5	"Heard there was somethin' wrong with 'em from one of my friends. She sees the colors on the matrix, y'know. But yeah, said something was REAL real wrong with 'em. Watch out for that one, chummer."

Assensing Table

Threshold	Result
1	You begin to peer beneath the surface of this delicate, beautiful thing. You feel the warmth of the sun on your face, you smell the salty sea air, hear the crash of ocean waves ... No, this feeling is not tainted by any magic. It is innocent but so sad and so bitter. Why is that? How could something be so beautiful and yet so wrathful? Something has hurt her.
2	Is that what it is? Pale clouds around her ears and neck? No, they blend into her too well, she is too calm to be wounded by trifling metal. Do you recognize it before? Have you looked any deeper before?
3	You compare yourself to the aura, to the ocean waves and the feeling of sand beneath your toes. Are you better than it? More whole than it? It does not judge you. How could it? And yet there is a weakness to the aura, its source does not eat enough, does not treat themselves kindly. This does not bother you, if anything it makes the aura more delicate. More ephemeral. More beautiful.
4	Yes. Deeper within the waves. Look ever deeper. Clouds swirl across her mind and her body and they are so perfectly and comfortably intertwined that it could almost make you weep. Why is she so hurt? What could have done this?
5	No. What is that ugly, tangled growth festering within its mind? It is the same as the ocean and the waves and the sand, how can it be so hideous? Some mutation of the mind, some twisted malformation deep at this delicate monster's hideous core. Could that be it? Could that be what wounds her? But ... do you care anymore? Something so beautiful with something so ugly within reeks of duplicity. No, Caliban is deserving of her sadness, you know this now. How could you have seen anything else?

SINs

Ennem Ariel (Rating 4, UCAS): Cyberdeck, Matrix Software, Private Investigator

Appearance

Caliban's flesh is a tall, spindly elf with too-long arms and too thin limbs. Caliban's white hair and pale skin and grey eyes could almost be called pretty but they are marred. Marred by make-up, left half-finished. One piece of the face immaculate and the left rest bare. Or marred by Caliban's speech, bumbling and awkward and raspy and too deep and soft. Or marred by Caliban's words, twisting and nonsensical is the picture she paints. Beautiful Caliban with beautiful eyes and thin, delicate features like a doll, so ugly is Caliban's soul.

Matrix Persona

On the matrix, Caliban adopts the persona of a monster. Caliban could be metahuman perhaps but Caliban is hulking and awkward, dressed in rags with a face like broken glass and with hideous, terrible claws. Caliban is ugly and you hate Caliban and you do not like Caliban. Caliban is hideous. Caliban is monstrous. Caliban is a bad thing.

Character Plot Hooks

Here are characteristics of the character that GMs may take advantage of to add complications to runs, or to otherwise use when in use. If you want to use them in unrelated to runs, please ask first.


Aspect	Information	Related Run(s)
Aspect 1
Aspect 2
Aspect 3
Aspect 4
Aspect 5

Gallery

Caliban's Meager, Fleshly Countenance

Difference between revisions of "Caliban"