Private Sithy Science

[Thelnic Vath]

Objective: Meet for potential research
Location: Spaceport, Jaminere
Equipment:

• Datapad
• Lightsaber
• Hover-crate with various research instruments

Tags: Mariah of House Marr

Thelnic had been traveling about the Outer Rim for a bit. He hoped to visit the Sith Holy planets, first had made stops at Tund and in the other neutral systems of that part of the galaxy. Most of his travels over his life had been focused on scientific knowledge. His family was renowned for their work in the field of genetics and cybernetics, This trip was supposed to be focused on the lesser side of Thelnic’s identity, his ability to use the Force. Because of that focus, Thelnic was surprised when he received an inquiry to his availability to participate in some scientific research project.

In his quest to learn more about the Force nearly had him turn the opportunity down. Thelnic then saw that House Marr was attached to the request. The rest was very vague, increasing the intrigue of the young would-be Sith in making a connection to the powerful Sith household. Jaminere seemed like an odd choice of planets to make contact. But with the Sith in this portion of the galaxy making a grab for Allied Tion assets, it was not totally illogical. Thelnic made his way to the planet. He paced nonchalantly around the spaceport hoping that the contact would recognize him and initiate contact.

The contact was a droid that went by W-5, White or White-5. By the names Thelnic guessed at the color of the droid. He also assumed that the droid would be some sort of protocol or Human Replica model. But there were quite a few of those in a busy spaceport. Thelnic didn’t notice a single other Arkanian within the building. He hadn’t seen one of his kind in at least a week’s time for that matter. Add to the fact that he was a young male and the droid likely had some sort of description or holo of him, and Thelnic was confident that by not moving too far from his current location his potential research partner would find him.

 

[Mariah of House Marr]

Objective: Carefully study
Mariah Location: On board the Fyrnock with all her droids/drones. Using her headset to command White directly.
WHITE-5 Location: Spaceport, Jaminere
Thelnic Vath
The droid was, naturally, armed. Who would ever let such a piece go un-protected. He was one of Mariah's favorite successes in technology, even if calling him a 'he' was a stretch of the term, even for a droid. And he quite lived up to his name in image featuring a primarily plastoid casing, but that simple, if rare, exterior was not where all the specialization lie. Mariah was able to, for practical purposes, 'be' White when she wanted to. Just as she was now. Using a headset to use him remotely like an artificial reality system. It made working with technology in hazardous environments far less of a hassle. A droid was easily decontaminated, and he could use precise fingerworks far easier than overly gloved hands. It also, of course, meant potentially dangerous situations were something she didn't have to leave up to an AI, but also didn't have to be present for.

But that was not enough. White-5, and his soon successer, White-6 "Arana", were not enough. Mariah needed to live, and her own body was never safe. She couldn't leave that be. There were beings though that could connect to multiple bodies all at once. The force of course was one method, but she wasn't that strong in the force, not just yet. She needed to be more creative, technology aided her. But it was only a pre-emptive measure, she had to know the threat was coming. It wasn't going to protect her if someone managed to get to her real body. If her body died, even were she in tune with Arana, she would be dead. Completely. And that would be it.

No, she needed help, Mariah knew tech, she knew a good bit about the force, and she learned fast enough in other areas. But she needed someone more familiar than her. That was why she sought out help. Just as she'd sought out help in creating Arana. In this case, that help was Thelnic Vath .

White would move with ease through the spaceport, quickly, eyeing the area nearby carefully as he did so until he spotted who Mariah believed was the man. She considered waving a greeting then thought better of it, instead, just beginning to make her way to hopefully the man she was meant to meet. She imagined if it was him, the name of who her proxy was would soon be obvious. She was quite eager to get into the science of what she was hoping to do.

Spoiler: equipment

ITEMS:
A wide range of tools and equipment for technological repairs and creations in a bag.
WEAPONS:
bar-58-blaster-pistol
IR-1
bar-58-blaster-pistol
pv-16-sunfury-pulse-pistol
Initiation (1 of 2)
DROID:
White-5

 

[Thelnic Vath]

Objective: Meet for potential research
Location: Spaceport, Jaminere
Equipment:

• Datapad
• Lightsaber
• Hover-crate with various research instruments

Tags: Mariah of House Marr

Thelnic was beginning to wonder if he had been lured her for less than honest intentions. He started to panic and his eyes darted about the spaceport. Was Jaminere really the place that someone would spring an ambush on him? And who in the galaxy would find Thelnic worthy of ambushing? It was preposterous and Thelnic immediately began to settle down. Maybe some unknown rival had learned of Thelnic and sent him here as some stalling tactic? That didn’t make much sense either. He was on a quest to learn about the Force. His strength in science was already being distracted by this mission. Any rival would have been better off letting him continue on his search for Force insight.

With the nefarious intention pretty well discredited, Thelnic decided that the delay was most likely due to the crowdedness of the spaceport and the lack of a clear meeting spot. That actually gave him a bit of comfort. If his contact did not have someplace specific to meet, it likely meant that they were on equally unfamiliar footing on Jaminere. With his worries calmed, Thelnic was able to focus more on the crowd.

With this focus, Thelnic spotted a white plastoid droid approaching his location. He gave a nod, as much to himself as to his potential contact and started to meet the droid halfway. ”I am Thelinc Vath,” he stated when the proximity to the droid was close enough that it was obvious who he was addressing. ”You are W-5 I assume. I was actually given several names, which is it you prefer?”

 

[Mariah of House Marr]

Objective: Carefully study
Mariah Location: On board the Fyrnock with all her droids/drones. Using her headset to command White directly.
WHITE-5 Location: Spaceport, Jaminere
Thelnic Vath
The voice was that of White of course, but it was Mariahs words, "I don't much mind which. I am Mariah Marr, but this droid can just be White for convenience. Anyone could track the droid back to me if they had a decent understanding of the holonet." she explained, "W-5 is just his model title. I'm still working on making one that's a bit more fitting of...that I'm not a man. But that's besides the point right now."

A dismissive wave of the hand, "We're here for science. I know tech, cybernetics, even a bit about the force. But my understanding of straight biology is far more limited. I have a couple of concepts in mind for the project but I can't really apply them on my own. The short version though, is I want a new species, one with one mind across it's members. Mine."

It was an incredibly ambitious intent, and one which on the offset risked turning him away. Especially since some might consider it a grab for too much power. She just hoped he wouldn't, or she'd have to go with a far more unique method that relied more on technology and the force. She wanted it to genuinely be her. Not merely a proxy alone. It was more real that way, more lasting. Ironically.

Spoiler: equipment

ITEMS:
A wide range of tools and equipment for technological repairs and creations in a bag.
WEAPONS:
bar-58-blaster-pistol
IR-1
bar-58-blaster-pistol
pv-16-sunfury-pulse-pistol
Initiation (1 of 2)
DROID:
White-5

 

[Thelnic Vath]

Objective: Meet for potential research
Location: Spaceport, Jaminere
Equipment:

• Datapad
• Lightsaber
• Hover-crate with various research instruments

Tags: Mariah of House Marr

The droid spoke and Thelnic nodded absently, until he realized that while the sound was emanating from the droid, in the droid’s voice, another was literally speaking through the automaton. While the droid it seemed would answer to any of the listed designations, the person who was speaking, a woman by logic based on her name, was called Mariah. Thelnic thought of the members of House Marr that he had found in a brief holonet search, and didn’t recall Mariah coming up. A reclusive scientist of the family? It wouldn’t be the first time a famous family had a less than public member. Thelnic’s interest was heightened.

It seemed that White or W-5 was the public representative of Mariah, and she was going through efforts to make something to better physically resemble who she was for the next iteration. Thelnic was, well, intrigued. He had grown up in a less than humble family inside of a very prideful culture, he himself was not so vain, but he understood the pension towards it. If Mariah wanted a better representation of herself however, Thelnic wondered why she didn’t just make appearances in person. The simple logic of youth.

”White is a bit…plain and maybe masculine for a proper representation,” Thelnic responded with a nod. ”Ironically White does seem to be exactly how I would design a spokesdroid for myself…aesthetically at least,” he gave a nervous laugh. Droids were not his thing however. And being a young scientist and mere Sith acolyte there was no reason for him to hide behind a droid.

Thelnic gave a bit of a smirk as the droid made its dismissive motion, imagining someone sitting at a holostation making the same motions far removed from Thelnic’s current locale. Then Mariah just came out and said what she was after. It was quite a fascinating concept. One that Thelnic wouldn’t have considered ever himself. ”Well, my family and people in general are quite familiar with genetics and biology. I too have a bit of knowledge on the Force, though I would not be confident that it would match up with yours given your family name.”

He paused for a moment before continuing. She first put a droid out there into the galaxy and now she was looking to create other beings that would share her thoughts and will. This Mariah was becoming more and more interesting. Thelnic wondered if he would get to actually meet her, or if she would set him up in some cold lab and they would work together through White only. ”There are several sentient species that have a hivemind. Most are insectoid, which I have to admit is not something I’ve delved into personally. But genetics is just how nucleotides come together to form DNA, which forms the traits of a being. Insectoids might take a bit of time to unravel but…”

There was another pause and a brief hum. ”You desire your next droid to resemble you more physically. Would you want the same of your new hive species? That would create a bit more work. But I’m sure it could be done. Of course, for me to make that happen we would probably need to eventually meet.”

 

[Mariah of House Marr]

A nod of further agreement about White's 'proper presentation' for her. And then an open hand to one side, "If that is something you are genuinely interested in I could assist you with it quite easily. The systems involved are already things I have practice in afterall, creating a new version isn't a huge problem."

He then went to the matter of his skill, and that of his family. Though she had to chuckle a little at the matter of her 'family name'. Where his own knowledge stood to hers was yet to be seen, she figured, for the time being. His actual skill in the matter likely superceded hers. For now. But her knowledge was fairly significant in it. She chose not to clarify that for the time being.

Another nod at the mention that many were insectoid, yes. Katitiks were those she most knew, telepathic species that were more mamallian certainly existed. But that was not her primary aim, though it could help in it. Despite admitting to not delving into it personally, she still felt as though he expected he could preform the task.

Then asked about her own preference on resembling, especially with her mention of making a droid closer to her. "Oh ideally I would like to meet with you, yes. I'm just cautious. Less convenient to bring a horde of drones around with me than just send a proxy droid I can interface with." she assured him, "As for appearance, well, it's not the highest priority. Even my upcoming droid wouldn't be a full match. Perhaps more of an...adaptation system would be sufficient. Focus on interfacing and uniting the mind, even if the bodies are not quite in line with one another perfectly. I understand even then, some level of alterations may be required of my own body."

Spoiler: equipment

ITEMS:
A wide range of tools and equipment for technological repairs and creations in a bag.
WEAPONS:
bar-58-blaster-pistol
IR-1
bar-58-blaster-pistol
pv-16-sunfury-pulse-pistol
Initiation (1 of 2)
DROID:
White-5

 

[Thelnic Vath]

Objective: Meet for potential research
Location: Spaceport, Jaminere
Equipment:

• Datapad
• Lightsaber
• Hover-crate with various research instruments

Tags: Mariah of House Marr

As an analytic mind, Thelnic tried his damnedest to guess at what the woman behind White looked like. It didn’t matter much in the long run. Thelnic was here to do a job and he could perform research just as well with this white droid looking over his shoulder as with the woman at the controls. Still, Mariah had a desire to be seen as herself. It was apparent in her desire to make White’s successor be more fitting and her desire to share her consciousness with living constructs that Mariah wanted to be seen. And that made Thelnic quite curious.

As White nodded, Thelnic imagined feminine features and clothes and…yet he still knew that he couldn’t possibly guess at the vision that was behind the droid. The offer to duplicate W-5 baked on Thelnic’s admiration of the design pulled the young Arkanian out of his wonderment. He smiled to White hoping that Mariah would be able to note the gesture through W-5s visual receptors. ”I’m unsure that I have a need for such a droid, however I am intrigued. Perhaps you can explain the reasons why you deploy White instead of making your own presence known and I might take you up on the offer.”

The mention of House Marr’s reputation seemed to give Mariah a bit of mirth, Thelnic wasn’t sure what he said that was amusing. Perhaps it was assuming that the whole Marr family were powerful in the Force. It would be like someone assuming all Vath family members were good at science. Thelnic’s cousin was a buffoon, strong as an ox and good for athletics or war and little else.

It was a bit odd to see a droid nodding to his statements. That was not the usual way a droid would behave when digesting an opinion. Thelnic guessed that the droid was not just a conduit for Mariah’s voice, but her physical expressions as well. That was quite fascinating, even to a scientist who had been solely dedicated to biology in his life. ”Caution is a good thing. I have found that curiosity makes me lower my guard a bit,” Thelnic admitted. If he was of a right mind he would have been more cautious himself in taking this meeting. But meeting more Sith scientists was worth the risk for him.

”Your biology might need to change in order to be the ‘queen’ of a hivemind for sure,” Thelnic responded as if it was the most normal sentence ever muttered. ”I do not however think that it would be very noticeable to the outside world. How would you like to continue this collaboration? Did you wish to meet in person and set up a mutual laboratory? Or divide the work and meet when there has been a breakthrough?”

 

[Mariah of House Marr]

Another shrug as he said he was unsure he even needed one. That was entirely fair, most probably didn't. Sith or scientist. At least, the majority of the time. There were many cases a proxy of such precision was far superior to standard sensor equipment and to going out in an envirosuit. "Dangerous situations or ones where an organic body would bring too much effort mostly. Think of it this way, there's a new rakghoul plague that may be transmissible by air or even perhaps merely skin flakes. Would you prefer to have nearly all the functions of being in person, barring your sense of the force, but with none of the actual risk beyond property damage. And only needing a bit of decontamination." she offered gesturing with the droids hands as she would have explained in person, "Well maybe a little extra, given the risks. But you get the point. Combative applications are convenient as well, White-5 is a physically advanced model and has a built in shield generator as well. So it's my mind, with what is technically superhuman attributes, and no direct health risks. There are a couple sensory limitations but we could probably remedy that fairly easily as I've already moved into more sensory data for my newer model."

She actually rather enjoyed the discussion there even if it wasn't what she was here. For getting to talk about technology with a sith might be a little out of place, but it was what she actually knew and was good at. She wasn't usually the salesman to another person directly beyond offering to fix their equipment or upgrade it, but it was still a fun situation regardless to try and offer a similar model to someone.

Another nod as she admitted agreement about having to change her own biology, "I would appreciate meeting in person. Eventually we'll have to either way. Would you like to join me on my ship or we could try and set up a future meeting at an actual laboratory. Ideally on Alvaria probably but I'm open to negotiation on that part."

Thelnic Vath

 

[Thelnic Vath]

Objective: Meet for potential research
Location: Spaceport, Jaminere
Equipment:

• Datapad
• Lightsaber
• Hover-crate with various research instruments

Tags: Mariah of House Marr

Mariah explained the benefits of having a proxy and Thelnic gave it more thought. He hadn’t really encountered that many dangerous situations in his life. Those that would come to be would likely be as a result of his endeavor to become a Sith. Having a droid take on the dangers that came with such a goal seemed to be a bit counter intuitive to Thelnic on original thought. But there were some things that would prove valuable as Mariah stated. Thelnic gave a nod to the suggestion of avoiding an airborne malady. That seemed like a rather reasonable fear for a genetic biologist. ”White is probably a bit more precise than your typical flesh and blood scientist as well in the laboratory,” Thelnic responded, coming around to the idea of having a droid proxy of his own. He would inquire as to the cost if the relationship with Mariah remained amicable as it developed. Especially if she could improve upon already discovered limitations.

To Thelnic it seemed that perhaps Mariah’s knowledge was more tech based than his. Which was fine, he preferred having varying expertise on a project as opposed to everyone looking at things from the same angle. That made for redundancies.. She seemed open to the idea of changing herself to be in a position to share her ideas and consciousness across several beings. Thelnic wasn’t sure he saw the appeal but the challenge of making it happen was pulling him in completely.

The offer to meet in person was a relief. Thelnic had guessed that things were going well, and he knew that even though there would be quite a bit of research before he could even present a working theory he was up to the job that was pitched to him. ”I have become a bit of a vagabond of late, and with little strict agenda. I would be quite delighted to meet with you. Either on your ship or Alvaria. If you have an existing laboratory it would be good to see what we are working with, but I would bet a fortune that research will dictate we make changes.”

 

[Mariah of House Marr]

There was truth in that too about the lab. Though he did technically lack a proper upgrade for scientific purposes, he could be directed to preform tasks as demanded. Her gauntlet allowed a great deal of programming freedom at least as long as there was a connection available. Just no sufficient on board systems unless she was the one directing him. "He has certainly proven very convenient. He's no substitute for an actual scientist knowledge wise though, since I made him for when I wanted to be somewhere functionally, not when I wanted an aide. But I would think it not too hard to add such things. Or simply keep a remote operating system for them." she explained.

His admitting to being more vagabond was an entirely amusing one, given her own only recently altered status of living in her ship for the most part. Though in fairness, it was a good ship. "Sounds excellent. I'm actually docked here already, we could join there and discuss more." came the response, "I will admit I've only recently 'settled' so to speak myself. I was always more mobile. Unfortunately, the chance of needing more changes is more of a certainty. My own personal equipment is far more suited to tech based situations, the most in depth equipment pertains to cybernetics and neurological study, but I have none of the equipment required for your kind of work."

An unfortunate but rather expected situation, "That shouldn't be too hard to remedy at least. I've already started industry for my house for other technologies and begun work on my own company proper, rather than my prior methods of selling designs or help. So I'm sure we can have an appropriate lab up and running not too long after we nail down the necessities."

Or at least she hoped so. This was still a field of expertise she was simply unfamiliar with. Her knowledge was certainly more than most, but it was surface level compared to what they were trying to do. And it would take her far too much time to attempt any of that catching up on her own, she wanted the process expedited. And for that, he was necessary. She might learn a great deal along the way so she could aid in the process, and guide the tracks she wanted. And importantly, avoid some unexpected incident. But she wasn't the lead here.

Thelnic Vath

 

[Thelnic Vath]

Objective: Meet for potential research
Location: Spaceport, Jaminere
Equipment:

• Datapad
• Lightsaber
• Hover-crate with various research instruments

Tags: Mariah of House Marr

Thelnic was thinking of all the things that a droid could do that he most likely could not. Or he could not without aid of some sort of machinery. In genetics the building blocks were tiny. Nothing that he or a droid facsimile would be able to manipulate. But there were certainly some things that required more gentle handling that Thelnic was capable of that a properly programmed droid might be able to do. ”I am not sure that I would want the droid to be autonomous. Acting on my own thoughts with precision that my biology just does not allow. That would be ideal…”

If Thelnic let the technical talk continue he was pretty sure that it would quickly go over his head. Sure in his education he had basic engineering and coding classes, but once they moved beyond the basics he would be lost. When Mariah admitted that she was docked locally, Thelnic tilted his head and gave a wry smile. Of course, that made sense. She just sent White in to make the introduction in case Thelnic accepted the meeting to take the head off a member of House Marr. Now that there was a degree of trust and a path forward had been established she would want to be close by to get things started. ”I suspect White knows the way. I shall follow gladly,” Thelnic was cautious not to call White him. Though the anatomy was fairly masculine, White was a stand in for Mariah. Using male pronouns might have been seen as an insult. Especially considering appearance was a reason for upgrading the current model.

”Interesting, I myself have been relatively settled until my schooling was complete and then there was no point in standing pat. If I was to grow my Force talents I needed to leave the umbrella of my parents’ world and trek out into the greater galaxy.” Thelnic responded in good humor to Mariah’s comment of settling down. He would one day need to find a home. But first he would have to discover what his lot in the galaxy was and where it would be best put into motion.

”I travel with the basics,” Thelnic said of his own tools, patting the crate that would hover at his side as soon as he started to move. ”The initial genetics side of the project will be data collection for me. As we’ve already stated the most common hiveminds are not as familiar to me as mammalian humanoids that are the most common in the galaxy and most often..engineered.” Thelnic paused and gave a nod of his head. ”I think a good link to the holonet and a large databucket should be good to get things started. Once we have a theory on how to move forward in creating this new lifeform, then we can decide what tools we need.”

 

[Mariah of House Marr]

His answer was very understandable. While at least some autonomy was convenient, going with merely a specialized tool orientation on the design and avoiding the pitfalls of droid intelligence being in control of that tool had plenty of merit. "We can probably work on something like that. Of course how in depth of an input you want is going to be up to you, implants or headsets simplify things, but using the force is also an option. The types of tools you desire could matter too, I preferred the simpler route of simply making them humanoid in shape. But they could probably be given some manner of built in tools rather than just more advanced sensors than human biology generally permits without enhancements." she explained nodding whites head.

White would lead the way with another nod afterwards, listening as they walked, she chuckled slightly, "In a funny way, we're slightly inverted there. Since I learned many of my skills out venturing while the force has required more localization." she explained. Then glancing to the crate as his reference of 'the basics'. "I think what you call basics and what I call basics are very different."

Mariah listened thoroughly to his following information. Right, data collection was the most logical starting point. There was the theoretical concerns of targeted chemical weapons against her but there was really no certainty the data wasn't out there somewhere anyway, and with the force and her penchant for technology, it made that kind of warfare a bit less certain anyway. He repeated the issue of the lack of mammalian hiveminds, it did cause a lot of problems. She wasn't up to him on dna understanding, but even how blood flowed could be massively different between most hiveminds and mammals. "Oh now a holonet connection, that I very much have. I'm not sure about mammalian hiveminds, but there are mammalian telepaths. While I want to avoid total reliance on the force for me to connect to...well myself, I think there's still a few to work with. My concern is I think most of those don't have a particularly great range, I want to be able to remain in contact with all my self's ideally. There's something I can potentially do to make sure my mind can handle it...but that's for later."

They probably could get to the ship before too long, the Fyrnock, full of swarm-drones
and Aristaeus Drones. The sudden shift even in White's gait from rather close to human to the efficient robotic motions of a droid would indicate Mariah leaving control back to the AI as she stepped out of her ship, and smiled with a bow of her head. She wore on her the same equipment her droid did, including an identical saber. The only exception was that the rifle was left behind, "Thanks White, go through the security procedures then meet me inside." she told the droid who immediately veered off to work. "Good to meet you in person already."

Thelnic Vath