Zenvisk's page

You construct an Artificial intelligence (or AI), a sophisticated program of self-motivated code that you can access for help in a variety of endeavors. This AI is the product of your own genius, far more advanced and complicated than any available for sale to consumers (though it falls short of being truly self-aware), and only you know the secrets of its creation and operation. Your AI can take one of two forms: a drone or an exocortex. You must pick one of these forms upon taking your first level of mechanic, and once this choice is made, it cannot be changed.

Drone
You begin play with a powerful robotic drone to house your AI. You build and control this drone, which accompanies you on your adventures and is capable of combat, espionage, and other specialized tasks. As you gain levels, your drone advances in sophistication and gain additional abilities. While the value of your drone is immense, only you, with your extensive knowledge of its quirks and security measures, can ever hope to operate or repair it. Drones are detailed in Drones.

Shirrens’ sensitive antennae grant them blindsense (vibration)—the ability to sense vibrations in the air—out to 30 feet. A shirren ignores the Stealth bonuses from any form of visual camouflage, invisibility, and the like when attempting a Perception check opposed by a creature’s Stealth check. Even on a successful Perception check, any foe that can’t be seen still has total concealment (50% miss chance) against a shirren, and the shirren still has the normal miss chance when attacking foes that have concealment. A shirren is still flat-footed against attacks from creatures it can’t see.

You are skilled at getting inside computer systems and electronic devices. At 1st level, you gain a +1 insight bonus to Computers and Engineering skill checks. At 5th level, every 4 levels thereafter, and at 20th level, this bonus increases by 1.

Shirrens are used to working with others as part of a team. Once per day, as long as an ally is within 10 feet, a shirren can roll a single attack roll or skill check twice and take the higher result.

You have created a customized toolkit you can use to hack systems and items. Your custom rig can be configured to take up an upgrade slot on your armor or can be installed as a cybernetic augmentation system in your brain (though it can be combined with a datajack for the same price as installing a datajack normally), your eyes, or an arm. For more information on augmentations, see Equipment. Alternatively, you can configure it to be a handheld device, meaning that you must retrieve it and hold it to use it effectively. While using this rig, you always count as having the appropriate tool or basic kit for any Computers or Engineering skill check you attempt. Some mechanic tricks and drone mods require the use of a custom rig. In addition, you can use your custom rig as a Mk I comm unit (see Equipment). Finally, if you have a drone, you can use your custom rig to communicate over an encrypted channel with your drone to issue commands to its AI or directly control it at a range of 2,500 feet.

If your custom rig is damaged, destroyed, lost, or stolen, you can kitbash a new one from any engineering kit, hacking kit, or other technological toolkit, reconfiguring the materials into a new custom rig with 1 hour of work. You can have only one custom rig at a time. If you create a new custom rig, your old one functions as a normal toolkit of whatever type you made it from and can no longer be used with your mechanic tricks.

Shirrens are eager to learn about new cultures and societies. Shirrens receive a +2 racial bonus to Culture and Diplomacy checks.

Skill Synergy (Culture & Profession (Vidgamer)) Choose two skills. These skills become class skills for you. If one or both were already class skills, you gain a +2 insight bonus to those skill checks instead.

Shirrens can communicate telepathically with any creatures within 30 feet with whom they share a language. Conversing telepathically with multiple creatures simultaneously is just as difficult as listening to multiple people speak.

Repair Drone: When you spend 10 minutes to repair your drone, you repair 25% of its maximum Hit Points instead of 10%. You must have a drone to learn this trick.

You’re obsessed with the intricacies of constructs and how automated machines function. You can easily identify what a machine’s function is and have an easier time attempting to access the internal programming of mechanized life-forms. Reduce the DC of Engineering checks to identify creatures and technology by 5. Computers is a class skill for you, though if it is a class skill from a class you take at 1st level, you instead gain a +1 bonus to Computers checks. In addition, you gain an ability adjustment of +1 to Intelligence at character creation.

Zenvisk, while tall and of average weight for a Shirren, is thin and of only average height when compared to a Human. With their large compound eyes, thin antennae, multi-jointed limbs, three-clawed hands, and dyed red exoskeleton, many humans find them at least somewhat repulsive. They are dressed casually, and each item of clothing is distinctive. On their feet are a pair of comfortable shoes, colored in a deep purple, that are held closed by velcro straps. They also wears a pair of blue pants. Finally, they have on a lime green, short-sleeved shirt which is cut up higher on the front to allow their mating arms to move about unrestricted. On their back is a high-quality backpack which apparently contains most of their worldly possessions. On their belt is a pulsecaster pistol in a small holster and a small survival knife in a sheathe. Additionally, their right arm appears to be made of metal from the elbow to the wrist, with a small, expanding screen located near the underside of their forearm near to the wrist.

Zenvisk was born to a family of three relatively wealthy Shirren merchants, or at least that is what they remembers of them. One day, shortly after they had emerged from their larval stage, the family took a trip to Old Earth in order to meet with a business contact who resided there. On their way from the spaceport to their contact, they were ambushed in a side street by a group of thugs. However, their parents apparently put up more resistance than the thug's usual victims, and the thugs attacked. However, Zenvisk was able to get away from the conflict and hid away for several days. When they finally grew hungry enough to be forced to leave their hidey hole, they returned to the alley where their parents were attacked. They did not find any bodies there, but they did find copious amounts of bluish-greenish fluid that they knew to be Shirren blood. There was enough of it that they knew their parents could not still be alive. At this point, they realized that they was stranded on this planet, with no means of providing for themself.

Now, several years later, they have fared fairly well. Originally, they had managed to scrape by by fixing up machines for other people in exchange for food or a place to sleep. However, they eventually determined that fixing machines and learning how to better design them was what they truly enjoyed doing. During this time, they also learned how to play some of the more popular vidgames. They particularly excel at strategy and simulations games, as they enable them to test their intellect, as well as VR games. These last ones they play as they enable them to not be judged by their race and appearance.

During their time on Earth, they had developed very few actual friendships here on Earth, with a notable exception being Jin, a fellow VR vidgame player who they met online. Eventually, Jin moved to Earth for some reason or another, getting a small home in a different part of the city. Additionally, since they (Zenvisk) had spent so long fixing or building robots and other machines for others, they decided to put these skills to use and construct one who would always be loyal to them. The result of this was their drone, whom they nicknamed 'Sam', but would eventually fully name her SAMANTHA (which stands for Self-Aware Machine with Advanced Natural THinking Algorithms). She serves three purposes to Zenvisk, with the first being, as she was made for, a friend. Secondly, she protects them, as they still harbor a distaste for violence (based on how their parents were killed). Finally, she can play video-games with them (as all friends are supposed to, right?).

1. What's your characters economic situation, and the economic situation of their family? A desperately poor character with a rich family tells a very different story than a desperately poor character with a poor family.

Zenvisk's economic situation is that they is living in the lower-middle class. They has an apartment, can afford to get food to eat and clothes to wear, and occasionally splurge on something or other, but they is not quite at the average level of wealth. As for their parents, they are dead.

2. What does your character look like? Describe their fashion sense, their hair, their eyes and skin. Is there a reason they dress or act the way they do? How do they carry themselves when they don’t think anyone is looking?

The physical description is above. They dress the way that they do because it is how they feel like dressing, and they have nobody to force them to dress a certain way. When they don't think anyone is looking, they typically seem to curl in on themselves, as if trying to either protect themselves or to simply reassure themselves that everything is okay.

3. Where was your character born? A Space Station? Old Earth? An offworld colony? The Moon? If they aren't from Old Earth (which is most likely if they are an alien) why did they move to Old Earth? Feel free to do some invention here. There's a whole galaxy out there, and a whole range of places to be from.

Zenvisk doesn't remember exactly where they was born, just that it wasn't on Old Earth, or any planet for that matter. The reason that they are on Old Earth is because they tagged along with their parents on a business deal, but their parents were murdered and they were left abandoned on the planet.

4. How did your character become whatever class they are or learn the skills they have?

Zenvisk became a mechanic because using computers and fixing machines came naturally to them from a young age. Their parents also taught them about the other races of the galaxy. However, when they was alone on the streets of Old Earth, they had to fend for themself. Being able to perceive your surroundings, tend you own wounds, and be able to climb were things that became vitally important to their survival. Later on, once they were living more comfortably, they taught themself how to play vidgames in order to earn some money for it.

5. What does your character do for a living? How did they get into doing that?

Zenvisk primarily earns his money by fixing and building machines for other individuals, but supplements this income through money gained by playing vidgames. They do both of these because while the work of a mechanic pays (relatively) well, they find playing vidgames to be more intellectually challenging.

6. What is their personality like?

Zenvisk is friendly, open-minded, intelligent, and peaceful. However, they are also disorganized, nervous, and reserved.

7. If your character is religious, explain why and how. If not, there may be a reason for that as well.

Zenvisk is an atheist, but does not push their world-view onto other. This is mostly due to them no believing that a single entity or group of entities, no matter how powerful, could build an entire universe.

8. Explain what your character’s alignment means to them. Something like “Jessica is lawful good because she wants to stamp out evil and eradicate it. She would sacrifice herself to attain her goals.”

Zenvisk is chaotic because they believe that order simply constrains individuals from achieving their full potential. They are good because while for most of their life they have had to focus on themselves, they do not wish for anyone else to have to go through anything like what they have had to go through, and have sometimes donated small amounts of money to certain charities.

9. How does your character feel about technology? About trans-humanism? About other races? Some people will always be conservatives, but some embrace technological advance wholeheartedly.

Zenvisk believes that technology is very important, and that improving the world through it is vital to the continued development of society. As for other races, they thoroughly enjoys meeting them. Somewhat ironically, one of the races that they have least encountered are Shirren, having only met a handful of them since their parents were murdered.