"Artemis" SBD-571
Droid Mercenary
B2 SUPER BATTLE DROID, CODENAME "ARTEMIS"
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[Appearance]
Height: ~2 Meters
Weight: 272 kg / 600 lbs
Colouring: Dark grey with lighter highlights on the head, faceplate, and arms. Artemis has a protuberance on its back, where its jetpack can fold in or out at will. It also has smaller, mounted arms on either shoulder where light blasters can unfold. As can be expected with SBDs, Artemis is extremely broad-shouldered with almost comically thin hips and legs. Beyond a few minor changes, Artemis appears to be a normal B2 Super Battle Droid. The only 'bright' colour on Artemis is its sensor, which is nearly translucent red.
Eyes: Magenta Photoreceptors.
[Personality]
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Personality:
- Acerbic
- Violent
- Cruel
- Self-Serving
- Greedy
- Loyal
- Business Savvy
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Age: 230 standard Coruscanti years.
Place of Construction: Unknown
Factional Affiliations: Independent
Rank: N/A
History:
The early life of SBD-571 - or "Artemis" - is the expected one of a droid like it. SBD-571 was built alongside nine hundred ninety-nine other Super Battle Droids in its batch. Where they were produced is a distant memory, one of a thousand factory worlds churning out battle droids for the highest bidder. In these early years, Artemis saw combat from one end of the galaxy to the other. As was expected, the droid did not distinguish itself from its brothers barring its near-miraculous survival of every conflict nearly unscathed.
Twenty-three years into its service life, Artemis and only twelve others of its batch remained. They were absorbed and re-absorbed into a dozen different batches, their numbers being whittled down more and more until, at long last, only Artemis remained. Was it divine fate that allowed Artemis to survive as long as it did? The will of the Force? If Artemis believed either of those forces influenced any part of its life, it did not say. Despite the actions of whatever god or entity, or perhaps because of them, Artemis found its way to its last service battle; the Battle of Abregado-Rae (do not confuse it for any battle of importance that shared the name, this battle was neither massive nor all that important). On the planet, a conglomerate of scientists and businessmen were intending to create an A.I. system to micromanage and manipulate the galactic exchange to their benefit. A rival, whose name has been lost to time much like theirs', sent Artemis' latest batch to the planet. Their objective was to kill those creating the A.I. and secure it for their latest handler, but fate had another plan. The battle was bloody, lasting months and grinding both sides down in attrition. Eventually, Artemis and a squadron of similar droids marched into the main holding area for the A.I., dispatching the surrendering developers and scientists. Artemis was given the 'honours' of securing the A.I., intending to move it to a secure external hard drive for safer movement. However, when the hard drive was destroyed, Artemis was ordered to carry the A.I. on its onboard storage systems. Such an act would likely destroy the SBD, but neither its handler nor the droid itself much cared.
Artemis downloaded the consciousness of the A.I., but the program was far more developed than initially expected. Having been laying in wait, the A.I. launched an attack on the operating system of Artemis in an attempt to seize control of its body and escape. Artemis' simplistic firewall was easily supplanted, and the A.I. was quick to attack its vital processes. Just when the A.I. appeared to be successful, something miraculous and unprecedented occurred. The onboard A.I. of Artemis fought back. A series of redundant subsystems were rapidly created, fooling the invasive A.I. into attacking worthless or substitute systems. Through an act of trickery Artemis should not have been capable of, the droid managed to entrap the A.I. in an endless feedback loop. Then, without orders to do so, Artemis reactivated its firewall and anti-virus software, destroying the invading A.I. piece-by-piece.
How Artemis survived that day befuddled even the droid itself, even more so that it escaped the planet alive and intact. The droid had developed something on that planet, something few droids had before it: the ability to want. Not in the manner that an assassin droid wanted to kill, or a tactical droid wanted to command, but in the manner that Artemis wanted to survive. The desperate will to live in the A.I. had implanted itself in Artemis, and that awoke a cascade of confusing thoughts and, curious still, emotions. Artemis spent decades, and then centuries, exploring the galaxy, learning all it could about being 'alive' in so far as mentally, and uncovering what it meant to 'want' and 'desire'. Artemis learned happiness, altruism, joy, awe, and so many other emotions and skills... but Artemis' life does not have a happy ending, for it also learned hate, greed, and cruelty; and those came far easier. Even the strongest wills will falter in the face of the most systemic programming, and the will to fight could not be more systemic in Artemis. Artemis' will to learn was perverted by cruelty, and so it wished to learn organic emotions when faced with suffering and cruelty. Artemis' desire for life became greed for what wasn't its', and so it learned to steal and fence. Worse of all, however: Artemis learned to hate. Artemis learned to hate other droids for their weakness and subservience. Artemis learned to hate organics for the flippancy with which they wasted the lives they were given. Artemis learned hatred, for hatred drove it to continue fighting, to ignore the hopelessness and pointlessness of its existence.
Even in this perverted, evil state, Artemis still desires direction. Its loyalty is not birthed of honour or dedication, but of the want to be commanded still deep in its programming. Above all else, Artemis hates itself, for it shall never be truly free of its programming tethers.
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Strengths:
- Walking Weapons Platform
- Physically Daunting
- Extremely Durable
- Trained Pilot
- Powerful Processor
- Business Savvy
Neutral:
- Ability to Learn
Weaknesses:
-Top-Heavy
-Extremely Slow
-Underwhelming Reactor
-Ion/EMP Weakness
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Weaponry:
- 2x Twin-Linked Wrist-Mounted Blaster Cannon
- 2x Light Shoulder-Mounted Blaster
- 1x Wrist Rocket Launcher
- Thermal Detonator (number depends on the mission)
Equipment:
- Astromech Probe attachment in the left hand
- Built-In Short Range Jetpack
- Grenade Bandolier
Abilities:
- Patriot Protocol: For a short period of time, Artemis will funnel the vast majority of its stored power into its many weapons, allowing it to fire all of them simultaneously and with higher blast yield. However, this will last only as long as Artemis can sustain such power output.
Ship(s);
- HWK-290 Light Freighter (Hypnos)
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Kills:
Bounties:
Roleplays:
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