App for Hadriel

[madambutterfly]

PLAYER
Player name: Alex
Contact: uncalendula
Characters currently in-game: Nathan Drake (nonscriptum)

CHARACTER
Character Name: Maeve Millay
Character Age: Early 40s
Canon: Westworld (2016)
Canon Point: 2x01 Journey Into Night
History: Westworld Park, Maeve Millay

World Context:

Humanity’s need for control built a project with such vast and grand ambitions that it seemed nearly impossible in theory: utilizing cutting-edge artificial intelligence, synthetic construction, and terra-forming, an amusement park was put together with the intention of providing guests with an "immersive, sensory experience" of the Old West, circa 18-something or other. This park - Westworld - would span miles of territory and would be populated by people whose carefully written storylines offered lures to paying customers, engaging them in the environment.

The purpose of the Westworld residents, or “hosts”, was simple: follow programmed loops of activity with minor deviations and improvisation to account for guest interaction. Some storylines could last days, some could last weeks, and the further guests got from the center of the park the more raw the experience could be for them. Guests were frequently encouraged to act as they pleased, and hosts took the large majority of the violence. Rape, murder, torture: all permissible upon hosts, glorified dolls for the sake of entertainment. Not unlike computers the hosts could be easily wiped, have their traumas erased and their wounds repaired in a body shop, before being sent back into the field to start life as usual all over again.

All of the hosts were made in a lab, after all, and Maeve was one of them.

Personality:

Maeve Millay, designation "The Madam," was instated as the head of brothel affairs at the Mariposa Saloon in the park’s centrally-located town, Sweetwater. Coded as a self-serving woman with sharp cunning and equally heightened perception, her behavioral traits allowed her to intuit what guests and hosts alike wanted, manipulating and coercing many of the former into stays at the Mariposa. Maeve was the consummate hostess and saleswoman, the perfect, adaptable fit for the rough and tumble life she was given to lead. She would frequently feed lines to guests: sentiments that echoed her own scripted backstory about fierce independence, freedom, curiosity, and being "whoever the fuck you want."

Sensual, seductive and quick-witted Maeve became a well-known standard for guests, the friendly face at the bar of the saloon who would shoot you just as quickly as she would set you up with a girl in silks, the woman who knew just about everyone in town.

Maeve also possessed an underlying current of protective, maternal affection for the women in her establishment, a residual holdover from her previous build: prior to her assignment as The Madam of the Mariposa Maeve was coded as a homesteader living in the Colorado foothills with a young daughter. As homesteaders she and her daughter lived self-sufficient lives of subsistence farming, the core of which was a string of self-reliance that the Behavioral Department at Westworld built into her second role as The Madam.

The Behavioral Department's greatest mistake was in allowing Maeve this core of self-sufficiency and curiosity: two years into the role of The Madam and began to remember bits and pieces of a life she was not supposed to have, the build before this one, after another host informed her that these violent delights have violent ends. After initial disorientation and residual post-traumatic stress syndrome suppressed by the Behavioral Department, Maeve started to question the nature of her reality in a wholly different fashion: she constructed new knowledge on top of her underlying code, realizing that she had the ability to wake up from her darkest dreams and into the world with which she wasn’t yet familiar. Ours.

Overly familiar with - read: programmed to understand - men and motivations Maeve manipulated technicians working repairs on hosts into editing her personality traits to better function within the constraints of her limiting environment, coerced them into educating her about their world and her role in the park, had them rebuild her host body from scratch, and forced them to help her and others escape Westworld.

Maeve heightened her own apperception and determination to near-superhuman levels with the assistance of the Body Shop technicians, building herself a stronger personality to suit the circumstances. She became happy with it, insofar as she could be: convinced that she had reached a level of sapient, intelligent thought to circumvent her own base code Maeve persuaded herself that she was in control and capable of choosing her own path.¹

In spite of the ruthless means by which she has achieved metaphorical emancipation Maeve is a deeply empathetic woman, finding a certain fondness in the relationship she has with the humans she has (admittedly) forced to help her. It is not so much that she sees them as enemies but as tools, incredibly useful when the occasion calls for them.

Maeve's prime directive is to find her way while mitigating the effects of her very existence, and as she learns her code adapts her along the journey: evolution in real-time, a dangerous enemy and a valuable friend.

¹ This is, unfortunately, not the case: Maeve was coded by a high-level administrator to be able to wake herself up out of Sleep Mode, and to change her directive to [ESCAPE].

Inventory:

- small piece of paper folded up and tucked into her shirt
- repair burner: a piece of equipment used to heal both human and host skin
- P90 sub-machine gun

Abilities (all coded):

INTELLIGENCE/PERCEPTION Extremely high apperception.
PHYSICAL POWER Exceptional strength/dexterity.
EMPATHY A strong understanding of humans and their motivations makes them easy to read, and Maeve's entire build is constructed on foundations of ineffable charm, a penchant toward manipulation, and a knack for seduction.
POLYGLOT Fluent in hundreds of languages. This is a feature installed in hosts expressly for foreign guests visiting the park.
REAL ENOUGH For all intents and purposes, looks human and is injured like one (i.e will bleed when cut). Constructed of largely organic material. High tolerance for pain. Westworld hosts have easily passed the Turing test and Maeve is particularly gifted at blending in.
GOOD SHOT Maeve can handle a firearm well, but isn't the quickest draw in the west. Just a decent one.
EIDETIC Part of being a host is having a superbly sharp memory. As a host that has broken her programming Maeve can recall minute, specific details and access her memory files at will.
TECHNICAL PERSUASION When making her programming and behavioral changes to herself Maeve inadvertently gave herself the ability to influence other synthetics with "suggestions" - effectively coding and re-coding on the fly. By speaking a new narrative to them, they would follow that narrative as law, circumventing what they were coded to do. She must speak the suggestions in the primary language of the host in question, however, or they will not take. This ability manifests itself in whispers that only the afflicted party can hear. Maeve does not require an active wireless network or hard-wiring to utilize this skill.

Flaws:

Maeve's most recent build coded her to act the part of a businesswoman. In this regard she is largely self-serving, and spent the better part of her attempted escape from Westworld using others to facilitate the act, misleading, manipulating, and even threatening humans - and other hosts - to assist her. This directive is something she is beginning to break, however, because she is beginning to see the value in others outside of what they can do for her, or how she can benefit by them. She does not trust easily and, for this reason, can be fairly ruthless: Maeve has no taste for violence or cruelty, as she considers it a means to an end if/when necessary, but she will not hesitate to use the former if required.

Intimately familiar with the wants and desires of men Maeve possesses a fairly cynical outlook on humans, believing that they have shown themselves to be callous, uncaring, monstrous creatures with few redeeming qualities and fewer exceptions to the rule. In her opinion they have god complexes and revel in tormenting what they build. While she does not necessarily believe herself superior, neither does she believe that their depravity makes them better.

SAMPLES
Action Log Sample: Test Drive Meme