Batou's Personal Tachikoma

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〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: DigitalSocrates
AGE: 28
JOURNAL: digitalsocrates
IM / EMAIL: lkerr at digitalsocrates dot net
PLURK: digitalsocrates
RETURNING: N/A

〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Tachikoma Sec09-06 aka "Batou's Tachikoma"
CHARACTER AGE: 2 years old
SERIES: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
CHRONOLOGY: After the events of SAC Season 1
CLASS: Hero
HOUSING: Random Housing, with the possibility of housing in other cities

BACKGROUND:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_Shell:_Stand_Alone_Complex

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex takes place in a cyberpunk future Japan. The story and setting is notable for its focus on transhumanism, artificial intelligence,  cyberization (replacing organic tissue with cybernetic organs/limbs/bodies), and memeology/sociology. The events of the series center on Public Safety Section 9, a government agency dedicated to investigating terrorism and cyber-crime cases, the most notable of which is the Laughing Man case, where a single public incident of perceived anti-corporate vigilantism spawned a host of copy cat crimes and corporate/government schemes. 

Basic cyberization in GitS is extremely common, with most people undergoing a procedure that encases their brains with digital implants, leaving the resultant combination of tech and flesh a 'cyber brain' which can then interface with the internet or personal messages without any physical input needed on the part of the user. Many others use cybernetic prosthetics to replace injured or diseased tissue or limbs, and there are many prosthetics that can be used to enhance performance in different professions. The predominance of cyberization has created new opportunities for hacking, where a skilled hacker (such as Major Kusinagi) can take over the motor functions of a target, overwrite memories or falsify sensory data.

The show's primary characters are Major Motoko Kusinagi, Batou, and Togusa, with an extended cast of minor characters. 

Short of a portion of her brain, Major Kusinagi's entire body is cybernetic. She's had a cybernetic body since early childhood because of a severe illness she contracted. The major is severe and strict, and doesn't show her emotions easily. She is a highly skilled hacker and soldier with a strong investigative instinct, but her independence sometimes manifests as a dangerous recklessness. The major tends to be critical of the Tachikoma's incessant chatter, and occasionally worries that their increasing independence and curiosity may become detrimental to the department. 

Batou is the second in command under the Major. He has also undergone significant cybernetic augmentation. He tends to be jovial and joking, although he can be quick to anger. He tends to enjoy small luxuries and often performs actions for their sentimental, rather than practical, function. He spends a significant amount of his paycheck on new body building equipment, for instance, when most of his muscles are mechanical. Batou loves the Tachikoma, in particular the one he's chosen as his 'own.'  He pampers it with special supplements and generally humors its infrequent rants on metaphysics. 

Togusa is the third most prominent Section 9 agent, and is notable for his lack of any significant cyberization besides his basic Cyber Brain, which allows him to interface with the web and to use nonverbal comms. Togusa is rather technophobic and tends not to get along with the Tachikoma.

Section 9 employs nine 'think-tank" spider tanks, the Tachikomas. They are highly specialized armored transport, covert operations robots, and weapon platforms that can be used for urban combat and stealth missions. They can be driven by Section 9 operatives, but their advance AI cores allow them to function independently. At the end of a mission, the Tachikomas were originally synchronized so that all mission data was shared among all nine tanks, and any individuality among them was eliminated. The process broke down, however, in part due to the natural oil that Batou was feeding to one of the Tachikomas, which was impacting the Tachikoma's neural net. Each of the Tachikoma's began to exhibit differences in personality, and all of them began exhibiting rebellious individual behavior. This led to the Major banning natural oil for the Tachikomas. 

When Section 9 was disbanded, the three remaining Tachikomas left their civilian jobs to come to the Major and Batou's rescue. After Section 9 was reestablished, in deference to the invaluable contributions of the Tachikoma, the Major discontinued synchronization of the Tachikomas, allowing their individual personalities to grow and expand unimpeded. 

PERSONALITY:

Batou's Personal Tachikoma (arbitrarily determined to be #06 for the purposes of this app) is known most specifically for its childlike enthusiasm. It is loud and outgoing and loves playing games and discussing theology. It loves learning and experiencing with all the innocent bliss of a child. Because of the frequent synchronizations, it benefits from the philosophical and metaphysical research that the bookworm Tachikoma has performed. #06 in particular is absorbed in the concept of "Ghosts" (the concept of the 'Soul' in GitS) and whether or not these are held only by organic beings, or merely a byproduct of an advanced enough intelligence, meaning that a sufficiently advanced artificial intelligence might develop its own Ghost. 

#06's enthusiasm for new experiences sometimes even leads to risky behavior, like venturing into shady websites or running non-authenticated programs - sometimes the negative consequences of these behaviors are the desired end result! #06 makes envious comments when one of its fellow Tachikomas is mauled by a larger Think Tank's dual machine guns. While #06 is perfectly capable of logical thought, sometimes its thought patterns take on surreal and confusing patterns, frequently confusing even its fellow Tachikomas. In a game of Othello with Togusa, #06 plays a piece and shouts Checkmate!, prompting Togusa to comment that it isn't even the correct game.

POWERS:

Spider Tank Form
The Tachikoma can freely switch between its little girl form, and its spider tank form. In its spider tank form, Tachikoma is roughly the size and weight of an average size sedan, roughly two metric tons (4400 lbs).  It comes equipped with a gatling-style 7.62x51mm light machine gun, a 50mm grenade launcher, and adhesive string launchers (which can be used to grapple or rappel). It can walk on its four legs, cruise on its omni-directional wheels at highway speeds, or leap significant heights and distances. It is built for stealth as well as combat missions, and can move completely silently. It can stick to any vertical or inverted surface capable of supporting its weight.

Artificial Intelligence
The Tachikoma is a highly advanced, but childlike Artificial Intelligence. It is capable of (and overzealous about) learning new things and contemplating the nature and consequences of its existence. In its Spider Tank form it has numerous different scanning devices and four different banks of eyes for 360 degree vision. In either form it has advanced computational abilities, and access to a large database of information that it is constantly updating with new data. It is capable of hacking all but the toughest computer systems, and it has a data cable in its Spider Tank form that it can use to interface with electronic devices. 

Thermoptic Camouflage
The Tachikoma can perfectly alter its surface to blend into its environment, effectively making it invisible to the naked eye. It retains this ability in its human child form.


〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:

Thank you for tuning in! Today I want to talk about our tattoos!

Nanites injected by the government seem to observe our actions and determine whether or not our actions fall into particular categories, correct? Sure, some of those behaviors are pretty easy for a relatively simple machine to detect. 'Unsettled' versus 'Registered' is as simple as swearing the oath or not. Simple to program! The same with Awol. The nanites need only detect whether the subject has permission to leave, and then compare to the current GPS coordinates of the subject. I do wonder if the nanites have access to wireless communication, that lets them check the status of government records indicating Hero status, or if this programming is entirely insular! Wireless technology would make them less reliant on behavioral analyzation, but their reliance would be heavily impacted by any disruption in connection!

But my real question is how the nanites determine the difference between Unsettled and Vigilante and Criminal! Logic dictates that they have a pre-determined set of conditions that dictate a change in condition, since the authorities claim that the tattoo does not allow remote tracking before Criminal status is attained. But this is a rather impressive feat! The ability to determine if an object that the subject has taken is a valid possession or the possession of another is a rather arbitrary things for these nanites to judge on an ad hoc basis! Is there really a highly advanced artificial intelligence embedded underneath each of our skins?

But while that's interesting,  my REAL question is why, if Vigilantism is illegal, why there is no penalty for doing it, if these nanites possess a definitive way of identifying and tracking the individual who is committing breaking the law?

LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:

etcelsior.dreamwidth.org/17374.html

FINAL NOTES: 


Tachikoma OUT