William Randall
H E R O
Alias: Paladin
Gender: Male
Age: 28
Occupation: Legal Counsel
Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0JDs4FY8cQ - Night Call After All
B O D Y
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 175 lbs
Hair Color: Dark Blonde
Eye Color: Blue
Appearance At 5'11" and 175, William has a muscular physique but isn't imposing. Though he tends to dress well for work, there's a casualness to it that either suggests he doesn't care about appearances or forgoes the traditional for comfort. While he can tie a tie, he doesn't often wear one except when in court (and even then it's not a sure thing).
His blue eyes are the same color as the nanites in his body, something which is apparent when they migrate outside his body and form a shell.
When his nanites manifest, they cover him in a combination of a black hexagon weave and a smooth blue shell. He's not entirely sure why they manifest in that particular arrangement though it does seem to provide for smooth movement, increased strength and protection.
M I N D
Skills William is a skilled lawyer. He understands the rules of the game and how to play within them (and without when the game won't get someone the justice they deserve). He's been taking cooking classes and getting pretty good at it. He (and his nanites) like music and dancing. His nanites seem to want to 'make' music but so far any attempt has been disastrous and he's thrown away the keyboard he bought to give it a try. He has some basic martial arts training and is currently undergoing more intense training. He's also studying robotics and computer programing to better 'relate' to the machines inside him though his knowledge at this point could be considered rudimentary at best.
He's also studying philosophy, psychology and practicing meditation in a better effort to control INTRN.
Title - Chief Legal Counsel, Babylon Industries
Tech.
Injectable Nanobiotic Trauma Response Network 1.0 (INTRN)
William's body is filled with a series of nanobiotics designed for trauma response. Intended for use as an injectable tool for war zones and post-war zones where mines and IEDs were commonplace, the nanobots were designed to seek out foreign materials in the human body, recycle those materials to replicate themselves so that they can create microscopic sutures to prevent internal bleeding and mimic missing tissue using an advanced AI driven subroutine to adapt and serve the function of the tissue in question (muscle, epithelial, connective or nervous) until such time as normal healing is complete.
The INTRN AI exceeded expectations and has itself adapted, developing rudimentary self-awareness and a survival mechanism for themselves, as well as their host. As such they have not shut down after the initial repair and continue to replicate themselves and grow within him.
INTRN currently has four primary manifestations which have developed progressively over time and continue to develop and change as they grow in strength and intelligence:
- Construct - The nanites take any foreign object in William's body (e.g. a bullet) and break it down to produce more of themselves. These subsequent generations then serve to perform the remaining functions.
- Repair - William heals incredibly fast. It's unclear how extensive the trauma can be before the nanobiotics would be unable to repair the damage but at the very least it can stabilize gunshot wounds and broken bones. Healing major injuries still takes time and includes an organic component as his own tissue grows around the nanite stabilizers. In the case of a major injury, the stabilization process can be enhanced through the intake of a carbon and polyacrylonitrile supplement (that the nanites can use to construct more of themselves).
- Protect - When not engaged in other functions, the nanites in William's body are capable of 'exiting' and forming a carapace like outer dermal layer. On par with bleeding edge body armor, the carapace can resist small arms fire and somewhat reduce the impact of blunt force trauma (making their primary function relatively unnecessary except in extreme circumstances). The armor also gives him the ability to resist extreme temperatures (on part with wearing an oven mitt or cold weather gear) and punch as though he was wearing brass knuckles. The armor can retreat back into his body for recyling though the process is painful and time-consuming, limiting the number of times he can manifest the armor in a given day. This recycle process usually takes a while, depending on other activities performed during that time as well as injuries needing attention (a priority action for the nanites). Presumably, should he be injured seriously enough, the armor would automatically be recalled so the nanites could be repurposed for repair.
- Enhance - The INTRN stabilized tissue performs at an increased efficiency to his organic tissue. Having already enhanced a small percentage of his body, William operates at levels nearing that of a professional athelete. With the nanite carapace deployed this level can exceed traditional athletic prowess and if necessary can reach the level of top human performance, however, reaching these top levels exhausts the carapace and the makes further moment restricted until such time as they are recalled and recycled.
Cost
Unintended Consequences - INTRN was originally designed to be limited to the removal of foreign materials in a body (i.e. bullets and metal fragments from IEDs/mines) and immediate trauma repair (i.e. internal bleeding). It was expected that once the nanobiotics had removed those foreign materials and repaired as much damage as possible, they would cease to operate. They were never intended to function beyond these initial parameters and were only meant to provide a stabilizing factor until more thorough and complete medical attention could be administered. Their persistence and evolution into the symbiotic technology now residing in William's body was an unintended consequence and not the sort of side-effect easily overlooked or added to the fast-talking scroll of fine print at the end of a pharmaceutical advertisement. As a result, INTRN 1.0 has since been shelved pending additional research and development. Side effects
- Physical - The nanites are hungry, resulting in an extremely aggressive metabolism. They tried putting him on an intravenous feed at night but the nanites 'ate' the needle and he woke up covered in a slurry of protein rich gel. As a result, William eats frequently and supplements his meals with nutrient dense bars and drinks.
The nanites are moderately painful when engaged in tissue repair (like thousands of tiny needles) and uncomfortable to manifest (like being covered in ants). They are also painful to recover. In addition, the recovered armor needs to be recycled before it can be deployed again. This typically takes awhile.
His increased performance occasionally includes blunders, especially when he gets emotional and he's been known to break things accidentally or react to misunderstood signals (for instance, his armor once activated when someone through a wad of paper at him).
Use of the nanites, especially for injury repair comes at the cost of losing more of his 'human' body. In addition, in certain circumstances his nanites need a 'boost'. While this improves his ability to repair himself and more quickly recycle his armor, it also fills him with more non-organic parts.
While this is sometimes noticable on the physical level (for instance, scars that have a slightly smooth and plastic texture), primarily it comes with a mental strain.
- Mental - There are a series of unexpected mental costs to INTRN. First and foremost, INTERN talks. Often its a buzzing, like tinnitus or the sound of an insect swarm. It's persistent but varies in intensity and rhythm, sometimes sounding like clicking or first generation modem squeals. He can sometimes understand the 'gist' of their communication, the 'tone' or feeling behind it, though can't outright understand the details. Similarly, they respond to his own internal monologue, sometimes taking action based on his wishes though they usually respond best to basic fight/flight feelings. He's working on improving his understanding of them and their understanding of him but often feels like a passenger in his own body when in the field as 'Paladin'.
In addition to the noise in his head, there's a more psychological fear. He knows he's being replaced with every injury. He's particularly concerned about whether it can, will or already has begun to replace his cerebral tissue and what that will mean if/when it does. So far scans suggest it hasn't replaced any cerebral tissue though nanobots do operate within his cranial cavity though in what capacity remains unknown.
S O U L
Personality Like a human filled with an Artificially Intelligent swarm of robots, William has two sides to his personality. On one side is a true believer. He believes in all the old school ideas, truth, justice, the American Dream. It would have been easy to become jaded, growing up in a rough part of town without many prospects. He certainly knows the American Dream is just that, a dream, that opportunity isn't just won through hard work. He'd seen lots of people who worked hard not get anywhere because the system was stacked against them. He got lucky. He knows that. He tries to help others get lucky too. As a result, whether under the umbrella of Babylon or pro bono on the side. On the heroic side, he tends to prefer saving cats from trees over dispensing justice.
"We have a system for that," he'd argue, though he knows that system is imperfect and often fails. When that happens, his other side kicks in.
While not a direct contrast to his more idealistic self, his other side has a darkness to it. The id to his super-ego, this darker side is the one that doubts (his own body, Babylon, the world), that likes pain (feeling it and inflicting it), that acts on instinct more than thought. The nanites in his body seem more attuned to his id, something which has led to one or two embarrassing moments and one or two dangerous ones. He fears his id and is working hard to keep it under-wraps.
Virtue Idealism. William is a believer. He believes in people. He believes in processes. If asked whether people were inherently good or inherently evil he wouldn't hesitate to say good.
Vice Id. William's body is easily swayed by his animal id. He struggles to control it and the frequent conflicts between his feelings and his actions. Sometimes that rises to the surface in thoughts he has to tamp down, sometimes in actions he has to restrain, and sometimes he has to let himself cut loose when it's safe.
What do you Regret? William let himself 'cut loose' on a mission once and hurt someone who didn't deserve it (at least, didn't deserve as much as they got). Since then he's wary of playing judge.
What do you Fear? He fears the loss of his humanity, both literally and figuratively. He measures himself daily in meditation and in other ways, to check to make sure 'he' is still inside.
What do you Treasure Most? Hope. Part of the reason why William has stuck with Babylon (despite some increasing paranoia over their knowledge of the side-effects of INTRN and varies other plans) is that it offers people hope, whether that's those needing new legs or just a leg up. He gets inspired by people who don't give up on their dreams, even when the odds are against them and does his best to help.
O R I G I N
William grew up in the same neighborhood as Lewis LaBelle though he was a good decade younger. Like a lot of the kids growing up in that part of town, he looked up to Lewis, someone who overcame the circumstances of his youth, physical, social and economic. Envy aside, William wasn't quite as successful in getting out of the neighborhood, in fact, he owes that almost entirely to Lewis.William was still in his teens when he caught a bullet in the crossfire of a gang shootout outside his high school. It was almost certainly luck that Lewis LaBelle had been present earlier that day to speak at an assembly to promote the value of education. At least, William figures it was just luck though he sometimes thinks the whispers in his head think it was planned.
In either case, he was fortunate enough to receive an experimental treatment which unquestionably saved his life and his ability to walk.
His good fortune continued, with Babylon Technologies taking a vested interest in his future, ensuring he had access to educational opportunities which led him to college and a law degree (and license) and subsequent job with the company where he quickly rose through the ranks of lawyers and legal counselors to become their top person.
It would be years before the side effects of the INTRN treatment would reveal themselves at least to him. He suspects Babylon doctors knew sooner. He has no proof of this and only suspicions, though some of those suspicions are logical, such as the fact that the technology was shelved after that first use. He's still learning about and coming to terms with those 'side effects' though he's still grateful for all Lewis and Babylon Tech had done for him and does his best to show that gratitude by doing what he can for others, on the clock and off.
Connections TBD