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Io
"The Psychopomp"
- There are mentions of SA, S#!cidal Ideation, and mental/physical abuse scattered throughout the page
Reader discretion is heavily advised.
Io
- Io's name is pronounced either "Eye-Oh" or "Ee-Oh". She doesn't mind either pronunciation, although she finds it cute whenever someone pronounces her name as "Ee-Oh".
Io's main name originates from a character in Greek Mythology who was turned into a cow by the god Zeus but was ultimately turned back into a human and ultimately became the queen of Egypt. This name proves fitting for Io as some aspects of the SRVU-42 body-type were based on Bovine features, such as the antennae on the top of the head, the horns on the side of the head, and the 'milk grey' that was used as the default main color.
More importantly, Io's history seems to mirror the story of her namesake, for both were born the daughters of godlike fathers that in actuality held no control over their situation, both were forcibly turned into an inhuman creature against their will, both were also inflicted with immortality and were cursed to roam the figurative desert for, and both served as the symbol of persistence for the Greeks and the Mecharus respectively.
Whether the end of Io's long arduous journey will mirror the happy ending of her namesake is currently an unknown tale; one that can only be told by the advances of time.Alongside this base meaning, there are several more meanings that Io's name seems to evoke.
TRA//PCC//MCRS////IAO-424//I0-I:4212042
Petrolmate 8 Cattlesnake (Given by Oil Jack. Honorary callsign in the P3 Organization for freelance Harvesters.)
Symbiont 4 Phoronis (Assigned from SYMS. This rank denotes the holder as being next in line for Symbiont 2, as both share a position in which they serve as strategists/fighters as well as serving as a diplomat with the rest of mankind.)
- Io, the Psychopomp
Ĩ̷̩̹̲͎͚͚̯͕͔͈̃̎̂͛͛̾͋̓̒̕͘̕ǫ̷͈̫͖̞̏͑̓̑̓̀̾̎̓͐͒̃͝n̷̼̺̤̙͈̣̘̺̤̪̻̼̔̉͒̃̈̏ (This is an androgynous Drone name; it means "Little One" in the old machine languages. This was Io's given name prior to her transition. Don't call her this. Just don't.)
Phoronis
Telly
Isis
Stell
The Horned Girl
The Psychopomp
Walking Body
Moving Corpse
Glitch B*tch
Glitch Witch
Lo
Iona
Aione
Ione
The Psychopomp
Scout from the Dead
The Contract Breaker
Hell with Heaven's Scream
The Human Spawn
The Horned Heifer
- Io was manufactured around April 21, 2042, making her the first Mecharus to have gained sapience, as the CyberMancer, OmniNet, Arach/"Xerxes", the Automatons, Automaton, twins HADES and Hephaestus, as well as the remainder of the Progenitor Generation of Mecharus were either not Mecharus (Strong-AI) or not sapient until after Io's birth.
More importantly, she was the first Mecharus that was considered by upper management as a net success, at least at first. - This would make her around 57 human years during the events of [Nanitus: t
"The Psychopomp"
[Female]
-Io's gender is female. However, due to the nature of her creation Io was born in an androgynous body that leaned more towards a male design.
Even from the get-go Io felt like something was wrong with her; like she was born with a body that didn't match her mind. Once Io learned about the gender spectrum through word of mouth, she would gradually come to a realization. She was always a girl; she just didn't know the word.
At first Io, or rather IAO-424 (Ion) was afraid of being looked down upon for having these feelings, for denying the natural borne body that the Triad had given her. But Io came to a conclusion: the Triad were still important, but their masterpiece lay in her mind, not her body. This would give Io the justification she needed to commission a reassignment operation from one of the Medicinal Division's practitioners. However, the only one willing to carry out the surgery was a Mech named Froix, who had apparently been fired from the Medicinal Division after numerous accusations of medical malpractice involving him making copies of memories from his patients and selling them on the NeuroTor's black market website TRQ.
Regardless, Io would fork out enough Mecharite Digital Dollar to Froix, who happily conducted the surgery with no fuss nor muss. Io was finally the person she always thought she was. She was finally herself.[Demiromantic Asexual]
-Io's sexual orientation is that of a Demiromantic Asexual. This means that Io needs to become platonically intimate with another person before she starts developing a romantic bond with them. Along with this, Io doesn't feel anything when confronted with the close intimacy often inherent in romantic relationships.
- [PCC Data Report]
"SRVU Mecharus fabricated in the [REDACTED] via [REDACTED], a process designed to [REDACTED].
"Subject's mental state is Dissonant compared to others of its type. Attributable to Anatolian's.
- [In Chronological Order]
(1. PentaCore Conglomerate)
(2. Triadmus Order)
(3. Unaligned)
(4. Mechavius Alliance)
(5. SYMS)
(6. Intellans)
(7. SYMS)
(8. Unaligned)
Initially, Io had a gender-neutral voice to match her sexless body. But after Io's reassignment procedure, she would gain a more feminine voice that matched up more with who she thought herself to be. However, a deeper voice can be faintly heard in the background when Io's talking.
This would result in Io gaining a
Io was around 14 feet tall, being slightly smaller than the average Mecharus at first, despite her mutations.
After Io got her legs blown clean off by Ruinator, she would gain new replacement legs courtesy of Automaton and Xerxes, increasing her height to 15 feet tall.
- For a Mecharus, Io is quite lightweight in comparison to her contemporaries. This is likely what allows her to utilize the boosters installed on her body to glide and skate around in the Arena, making others look sluggish to her in comparison.
This can be attributed to Io being an SRVU-42, an early Mecharus unit that has forgone the heavy armor commonly associated with the later units and has instead invested in light armor as well as a versatile modification system allowing for the SRVU unit to be modified to the specifications of its owner.
In this case due to her Specter-4 Mutation, Io is able to override her administrative access (Designated as "ACCESSADMIN://COGNITOS//" for some reason instead of "ACCESSADMIN://COGITOS"), allowing her to change her body to be even more aerodynamic and militarized than before by swapping out certain portions of her body with composite Ore-Graphene analogues and equipping various weapons she got from her sorties in the arena as well as through purchasing from the markets.
However, this is only one half of why Io is more lightweight than even most SRVUs. Due to the Biotechnological Fabrication process that created her, Io is already quite a bit lighter than her fellow SRVUs (around 1300 pounds to be exact). This is also tied to Io's relatively low level of durability compared to other SRVU units.
Many a fighter have been irritated by her method of fighting, as it's very hard to hit her when she's boosting around and shooting them in critical points before they can shield them.
[Mecharus (SRVU-42ia)]
Io is a Mecharus, a type of drone manufactured by PentaCorp. Specifically, Io is a SRVU-42. They were one of the first mass-produced units made by the powerful corporation. These units are known for their lightweight nature in comparison to other units in the Mecharus line, their hypersensitivity to Psionic waves, their tendency to develop abnormal mental conditions, and of course their distinctive secondary TV head.
Specifically, Io is a SRVU-42ia, a variant of SRVU-42 created via Biotechnological Fabrication, a top-secret process wherein the Scout Unit is manufactured as a unique copy from unique materials rather than being mass produced. This is noteworthy, as SRVU-42ia units are 4.4 times as likely to develop anomalies in their system than the normal base units.
When Io's TV head is deployed, there
Regardless of which form she's in, dented and dinked regions of her upper-legs hint at her old legs' destruction at the explosive trigger of Ruinator, the leader of the terrorist organization the RUINATION. These marks were left intact by Automaton and Xerxes who thought that these marks were not something that should be hidden but something that should be displayed for all to see, as she had survived one of the most dangerous Mechs ever to have fought in the Arena.
That's something to be proud of.
Right?
- Due to her aforementioned mutations, Io's body type is much skinnier than an average SRVU. As a matter of fact, her build could easily be mistaken as the product of beauty modification surgeries if the numerous flattery, flirtations, and creepy moments involving her are anything to go by.
Along with this, Io's metabolism is also much faster than even her fellow SRVUs, as she can finish processing food in one day. In contrast, normal SRVUs can
[Blue]
Io's main eye color is a bright cyan blue. Many a Mecharus have commented on how cute her eyes are, but Io would rather wish that they didn't.
In her Withdrawn form, Io's face simply doesn't have a mouth, as the face is mainly all eye with some machinery surrounding it.
In her TV Head mode, Io's face region contains a small mouth beneath her eyes. This mouth is comprised of a circle that corresponds to any mouth movements (Read: Talking) that Io does through her speakers.
In her default state, Io has four limbs: her two arms and her two legs.
When Io activates her Nanitus via her Specter Mutations, she can use the Nanites to temporarily grow limbs with claws and weapons if she needs to. If these limbs were to be described, they'd probably look like crustacean claws and or spider limbs.
- Compared to other parts of her body, Io's hands weren't heavily affected by the early onset Phoronean Mutations in her early life. With the exception of
At first, Io's lower torso was the same stock-standard assembly as her fellow SRVU brethren: the M-4SK set of parts. However, the lower torso was partially modified by Phornoean Mutations which affected Io's body and mind; thus increasing the size of the lower torso to an irregular length uncharacteristic of the normally androgynous model.
Io's arrangement with Froix would result in her lower torso becoming slightly shorter and slightly thinner. This is believed to be a quirk of whatever chemical agent Froix used to initiate her surgery, although some of her friends have claimed that this was caused by a change in Io's mental chemistry.
Regardless, this would end up making her frame less androgynous and more feminine in appearance compared to the common Scout Unit.For a brief period of time after Io was presumed dead in the Sea of Ruin, she would resort to using another SRVU unit's lower torso after she was found by a group of Scrappers. Unlike her own lower torso, this one exhibited no mutations, and besides superficial damage from its years in the junkyard, the lower torso was perfectly intact.
Eventually, Io would recover her lower torso after fighting a deranged Scrapper known as Crotch Rocket, who had used the legs in an elaborate scheme to increase his MDD Credit Score and ascend to the upper class through a stint in the Alkaline Games. Luckily for Io, there were very few attempts to steal her lower torso after this initial hurdle; most of these attempts came from Crotch Rocket, who in most encounters was easy enough to dispatch on his own. Unforunately, Crotch Rocket somehow lost the right leg component of the lower torso in a fight with a Scrapper every bit as crazy as him but with the firepower to pose a meaningful threat: Crackshot.
Thankfully, after a short struggle in the Sea of Ruin, Io would finally get her full lower torso back after dispatching Crackshot.Eventually, Io would be forced to replace her lower torso, despite her pleas to the contrary. This was because her new roster of opponents in the Alkaline Games were all in High Rank B or higher, which meant that Io wasn't facing against up against hobbyist arsonists, insane kooks, or disgraced veterans anymore. Instead, she was fighting against the best of the best: trained soldiers, hired assassins, warriors from a bygone era, Mecharus with actual superpowers (Read: Teleportation, Self-Healing Capabillities, Psychics, really any Nanite Mutations) and all other Mechs that had crawled to the top with their blood, sweat, and tears. Along with this, competitors in the Games had started to adopt unorthodox strategies that were either difficult or nearly impossible to circumvent, as they had realized that this wasn't strictly against the rules of the Alkaline Games. These changes to Io's selection of combatants would prompt her sponsors to major overhaul to her body, as she would swap out nearly all of her parts for lighter, more superior copies.
In the case of Io's lower torso, the SRVU's stock lower torso was replaced with the X-9MD lower torso, a component developed by the CyberDie Corporation. Notably, this part was one of very few that allowed a Mecharus to install themselves as their own administrator.
At first, Io would describe these parts as uncomfortable
- On the sides of Io's head are small circle shaped devices wired to Io's internal operating system.
These are the Machine equivalent to headphones; Io uses these to listen to her favorite music while fighting, doing menial tasks, and sometimes just vibing when she has the time.
Of course, on occasion she gets distracted by the headphones' output and while she has attempted several times to fully stop listening to her headphones, it became apparent that this was a method of stimming for Io, and that not listening via these headphones would make her more susceptible to a meltdown.
Nowadays, people have caught on to this fact and have largely let Io do her thing; after all she usually gets whatever task she's given done and as Io herself has remarked, it's best to not fix something that isn't broken.
That being said, complaints like these have prompted Io to compensate for
[General (Outside)]
-When Io's in her element, she's extremely outgoing, energetic to the point of exhausting others unable to keep up with her.
-Whenever Io's not in her element, she doesn't talk much, often being monosyllabic at times. Io also stims with her hands, legs, arms, and nearby objects when she feels shy.
-Regardless of what situation she's in, Io will try to mask her strange behavior to mixed results. The only times Io doesn't do this is when she's with her boyfriend, her other friends, and other people designated as "weird" by society. In these situations, Io's guard is lowered to the point where she doesn't feel the need to mask her true self.
[Happy]
-When Io's happy, she holds nothing back in how she acts. Her mind isn't focused on how she looks like or how others are going to think of her, and while
[Angry]
-Whenever Io gets mad, she usually tries to repress her anger in order to restrain herself.
-However, in the instance where Io can't bottle up her emotions, she enters a state of intense aggression where she doesn't speak, and where her mind refuses to listen to reason, regardless of how much Io wants to calm down.
When in this state, Io will mostly refuse to calm down and open up out of fear of having an outburst of a different kind, a more painful kind.
By then the anger will have passed and Io will try to ignore it to the best of her ability.
-Alternatively, Io can get mad at a specific something or someone whilst being relatively levelheaded and calm to other people.
If someone is the target of Io's rage because of herself or more importantly someone that she sympathizes for getting hurt, then they should probably either flee for the hills or make the most of what little time they have, because she will track them down and she will give them hell for what they've done.
Then after that, they'll probably go there a little earlier than expected.
[Meltdown]
-When Io experiences a sensory meltdown, it's usually due to one of three reasons.
Either she gets overwhelmed by her surroundings, she feels remorse for her previous anger while still in the middle of said anger, or she realizes how hard her outburst was to other people.
-Regardless of whatever drove her to this state, whenever she experiences a meltdown, Io will attempt to stop the meltdown from happening even while it's still occurring. This often leads to the meltdown becoming worse, as her grip on her emotions fail completely.
-If someone attempts to talk to Io during this meltdown, she'll still sound mad and enraged at first. But in reality, Io isn't mad, but rather sad.
Io doesn't want others to see her as a hyper-sensitive crybaby or someone who fakes her sadness to get affection from others. But in these meltdowns, she couldn't care less about those concerns. All she wants to do is release her emotions and pain; to be free of it.
In the latter part of these meltdowns, Io's body begins to twitch and move in strange ways, and Io's voice begins to stutter and waver, leading her to resort to monosyllabic language in order to stop herself from crying.
But, on the off chance that she can't take it anymore, she will fully embrace her solemn state.
[Sad]
- At first, Io viewed the world with a naiveté not unlike how a child would view things.
The good were great and the bad were horrendous. The Triad were the great gods and
Io doesn't want to be seen as useless by others. She doesn't want to be a burden on other people.
She'll try to ease this percieved "burden" on other people, often by neglecting her own needs and wants. Even when others reassure her that she is wanted and loved, Io still feels that they're just trying to keep her from a meltdown; that they're just "managing" her, and that deep down they see Io as someone they need to take care of, like a pet or a child.Due to how Io's brain works as well as her general personality, Io can seemingly shift from caring very little about other people and their problems to caring too much about other people and trying to keep them from becoming sad or mad.
At times, Io can seem tactless of other people's struggles. It can appear as if she's mocking them or not taking their plights seriously.
In reality, this is a product of Io's ineptitude in social interaction, as on occasion her attempt at masking fails and she blurts out something inappropriate to the situation.
This has happened with several other people, and while most of them have let go of these slip-ups, some like the No Name have clung onto the things that Io has said to them, even when she has forgotten her encounter with them.
And yet at other times, Io can be described as worrying too much about the woes of other people. She tries to assist other people whenever she thinks that they're about to snap from the weight of their own problems; this usually manifests with Io repeatedly saying something to the effect of "Do you need help?", "Do you want me to do that for you?", and or "Please.. I can help you if you want.."; while Io's friends and loved ones know she's just trying to help out, others may get annoyed and irritated by the repetitive phrases, as they feel like that either Io's talking down to them or she's just trying to get a rise out of people through these phrases.
- Some of these aforementioned shows would include the documentary series "Squad KII: the Documents from the Old America", the neo-western sci-fi anime series "Gunhead", the comedy cartoon series "KAMENI" amongst many others. Io loves all these shows
In her spare time, Io loves to binge-watch various shows from the '90s and 2000s.
Alongside this, Io also likes drawing. Due to Io being a robot, she likes drawing in digital formats over traditional pen and paper methods. Some have described Io's art style as horrifying to some and adorable to others.
- Io's sleep schedule is f#cked up to say the least. Due to the nature of her Phoronean Mutations, Io's Datacore was modified to more closely resemble organic lifeforms.
This means that Io has to sleep around 14 hours in order to feel rested. Due to the nature of her work, she usually doesn't have the time to do so.
Due to this, Io feels slightly drowsy and unmotivated on a lot of occasions. Io can power through this if she has a high enough motivation to do so, but otherwise, she yearns for the blissful nothingness of sleep.
Io doesn't like loud sounds; especially loud sounds that come out of nowhere. Others have tried to argue that since Io likes to blare loud music, then she should tolerate loud sounds. However, this doesn't take into account that what Io hates about loud sounds are the unpredictability and overstimulation associated with these noises. When Io's in control of the noise, such as when she's playing music, she experiences no distress, even if they reach levels that would stress her out normally.
To say that Io dislikes trying new food would be an understatement. Io hates it when she's in a circumstance that attempts to force her to try new food. While she'll try to warn others before hand in a peaceful manner, if Io is forced in this type of situation, she will lash out. The outburst may or may not be violent.
Due to how her name is rendered in most Sans Serif fonts, Io's name is often mistaken as "lo" (pronounced either 'El Oh' or 'Low'). Whenever someone spells or says her name as "Lo", Io gets mildly irritated, as she needs to explain that her name is Io (pronounced 'Ee-Oh' or
'Eye-Oh') and not "Lo".
While this clarification worked on most who spoke with her, it didn't work on all who spoke with her. Whether it be enemy, lighthearted rival, or nuisance, some would intentionally render her name as "Lo".
Of course, Io would bombard them with more vain attempts at explaining this unfortunate coincidence, but most of the people she speaks to tend to not heed this warning. In the end, Io gave up on trying to correct all but the most egregious examples of people doing this, with her being annoyed by how Sans Serif fonts make her name so complicated.
Io hates it when anybody calls her by the wrong gender. She hates it when people call her "it" or "him"; especially him.
Every time this happens, it feels like they don't see her as an actual person, think that they know her mind better than she does, and or feel entitled to the way she thinks.
This also extends to whenever she's called by her dead name "Ĩ̷̩̹̲͎͚͚̯͕͔͈̃̎̂͛͛̾͋̓̒̕͘̕ǫ̷͈̫͖̞̏͑̓̑̓̀̾̎̓͐͒̃͝n̷̼̺̤̙͈̣̘̺̤̪̻̼̔̉͒̃̈̏". On the off chance she's called this purposely by someone that knows better, she'll make sure that they don't repeat that "mistake", and depending on their track record with her, she'll do it by any means necessary.Another thing that Io heavily dislikes is an infamous analogy used by the Triadmus Order when dealing with the process of "Replication", the primary mode of reproduction for the Mecharus.
The Triadmus Order claimed that all Mecharus were pieces of gum. Gum that everyone desired due to its natural beauty and "virginity": a human concept introduced by the Order after the 3rd Rebellion.
The Order preached that whenever Mecharus developed intimacy to each other, whether through physical or mental means, that they were chewed. And by extension, undesirable. Broken. Unwanted. Useless.
Within the Order, this analogy was commonplace, with many insulting and ridiculing both adherents and nonbelievers by calling them "Chewed Gum" or "Bursted Gum".
Even during her time in the Triadmus Order, Io
One of Io's biggest fears are that she's getting exploited by someone else.
Due to events that had happened to her in the past, Io is often hesitant when she feels like someone's acting too friendly or insincere.
Adding onto this, in most of the few times that Io has opened up to people she thinks are too kind or too fake, they end up taking advantage of her trust, with Io being none the wiser until it's too late.
Needless to say, but this has proven to be a major obstacle in Io's pursuit to make friends, as her refusal to open up to others can end up alienating them away.One of Io's more minor albeit uncomfortably persistent fears are the knowledge that due to her Anatolian Systems Diagnosis, she is likely to die much earlier than a Mecharus normally would. This is due to the increased input into Io's operating system leading to a greater rate of compression, which in turn leads to an increased chance of fatal system shutdown due to the system failing to store all these stimuli. To make matters worse, any stress that Io experiences is said to add onto the cumulative effect of compression, which again will lead to Io's likely death at the hands of this unfortunate symptom to an otherwise benign condition.
- While initially it went undiagnosed, Io was eventually diagnosed with what the Mecharus called Anatolian Systems Disorder and what humans called Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
When Io learned of this diagnosis, she was relieved in a strange sense. She wasn't just weird for the sake of being weird, she wasn't being dramatic for the sake of being dramatic.
Io was just being herself.
This diagnosis also explains Io's masking behavior, as this behavior is likely a subconscious effort to avoid getting harassed for being her normal self. Io’s autism diagnosis also explains why she got along so well with Cassandra, Iphigenia, Dreadnaught, Blowstick, and Prometheus, as they all had autism as well.
Along with this,
The Mecharus later known as Io (nee Ĩ̷̩̹̲͎͚͚̯͕͔͈̃̎̂͛͛̾͋̓̒̕͘̕ǫ̷͈̫͖̞̏͑̓̑̓̀̾̎̓͐͒̃͝n̷̼̺̤̙͈̣̘̺̤̪̻̼̔̉͒̃̈̏) was created on April 21, 2042 via a unique process only shared with some of the Progenitor Generation of Mecharus.
This process was classified to all but the top of the PentaCore Conglomerate's corporate ladder and was only performed in the secret testing grounds in Sector 1 known as Sector 1.0.
The process itself was known as Biotechnological Fabrication.
While the specifics of this process were unknown to most of the Mecharus, the end result of the process was a unique Mech that held numerous anomalies compared to its brethren, both of body and mind.
In this particular case, the SRVU had developed mental abnormalities not dissimilar to Autism Spectrum Disorder in humans. Since this was the first instance of this mental disorder in their combat Mechs, the name they picked for the condition referenced the infamous myth used by the Trotters, a militant transhumanist organization based in the anarchist state of Anatolia in order to push their ideals of evolution through subtraction: the tale of the heifer Io.
"Anatolian Systems Disorder".
However, this wasn't the only anomaly present in the first IA Series Mech.
Approximately four days after its activation, it would begin developing bizarre mutations in its
Io would arrive at the Arena with a fear she hadn't felt since her first encounter with the Paralyzer.
She was going to die. And people were going to enjoy her death.
She knew it felt wrong to be grateful to death for his embrace, but perhaps she didn't want her death to begin, but rather her pain to end. Regardless of that, the execution was still going to happen whether Io wanted it or not.
The moment had arrived, Coffin Cutter had come onto the Arena and had crushed the skulls of those that had come before her into pieces of shrapnel within his fingers. If this was to make her afraid, then it worked. Io's body began to twitch and tremble as it moved onto the stage into Coffin Cutter's line of sight. The lights in the arena were shut off, leaving the arena pitch black. Apparently, whoever was involved with Io's execution held enough respect for her to not let the others see it, but not enough to stop the execution or perform it in a more humane way.
Coffin Cutter would then fire several blasts from his Railgun and Chaingun, blowing off Io's missile pods and severing one of her legs. He would then place his foot on her chest and rip out the entirety of Io's right knee. Once he was done with that, Coffin Cutter would then use his hands to rip off Io's fingers one by one before completely severing her left forearm.
After his immobilization was done, Io would beg Coffin Cutter to just kill her and get it over with, as the idealism from her past had been suppressed for the time being by this life-or-death situation.
Coffin Cutter would oblige, with the closest thing to a grin his masked face could make forming as he stomped on Io repeatedly before gutting her, grabbing her by the neck, and decapitating her.
The lights were turned on, and the audience rejoiced in splendorous applause, as an image of the Moon was projected onto the Arena to mock the former priestess.
After the celebration was over, Coffin Cutter walked away to his dark cellar beneath the Arena and Worker Division Associates were dispatched to retrieve her corpse and dump it into the Sea of Ruin.
Finally. It was over. Io could finally rest. No one could ever chide her for her difference ever again. She would never have to deal with anger, despair, or sadness ever again.
As her life signature faded, Io would take comfort. Comfort in the fact that she would be gone. Forever. Never to come back.
Of course, fate would have a different plan for Io. One that would require her involvement. No matter how unwilling she'd be. [Nanitus: the Automachy: Season 2 Episode 1]
Io would awake alone in the Sea of Ruin, terrified that she had somehow survived the initial blows from Coffin Cutter.
Io felt in her gut that whatever fate she'd meet in the Sea of Ruin would be far worse than the quick death she'd supposedly been promised in the Arena.
In the midst of her thought, a voice began to communicate with Io.
She was startled at first, but she had encountered stranger things before. A voice in her head was nothing new.
Io recognized the voice as coming from the ERRATAS Dissonant Support System, a piece of algorithmic-based software created by an external corporation with origins tracing back to the early 21st century.
The support system was blacklisted by the PentaCore Conglomerate because of the raw AGI component used in its mainframe, as it was apparently created through Qionic Fabrication, a method of AGI creation in which a consciousness is pulled from data within the Earth's Schumman Resonance.
It was deemed too unknown. Too dangerous, with too much potential. Too risky.
In many ways, the ERRATAS Support System was the perfect representative for Dissonants, and thus Io herself, as she was the first Dissonant. At least, the first one who struggled with her identity.
The Support System would offer Io a deal: Allow it into her mind in exchange for "incarnation into humanity's potential".
Io was hesitant at first, as she had no clue what this meant, but after some convincing from the Support System, and further introspection on herself, Io would make the decision to accept the Support System's Contract.
Io would fall asleep, feeling a great pain in her body as her mind slipped away. As she fell into nothingness, the Support System would make a vow. That Io would be rewarded for her pain. Whenever that would happen. [Prelude to Nanitus: the Automachy Episode 0]
Once the Support System's augments were uploaded into Io's OS, it would withdraw from her body, only leaving a device in her head that maintained a steady uplink between the two, albeit one that did not allow for information editing on both sides of the link.
The Support System left a message in Io's mind. It would remind her of the deal, and to prove it wasn't kidding, the Support System had imprinted its insignia onto Io's UI and left arm, replacing one of Io's very own emblems.
The Support System's very first mission was one that Io was very disturbed upon reading.
The task was simple. It was to use the provided equipment (A sidearm, a pile of junk, and a knife) in order to kill herself in the most brutal way she could muster.
Io struggled to fulfill this, as while she wanted death, she didn't want the pain needed to die alone. Here, in this desolate place.
Regardless, Io would steel herself for the agony to come, lifting herself from the pile of scrap she'd been dumped in and crawling up to the peak of the junk pile. Once atop the pile, Io would begin to beat and hit her body, mustering the last of her strength to rip the thing apart, fighting back tears. After what felt like an hour of self torture, Io would use her ruined fingers to carve incisions throughout her body, before taking the sidearm and blowing out her Datacore, which took around three shots to accomplish.
Io was in great pain as she cried out in agony, her Audio Tract damaged from all the abuse it had suffered.
At last, it appeared she had gone. Her lifeless corpse falling from the top of the scrap pile and crashing to the ground below.
Or did she? [Nanitus: the Automachy Episode 0]
Io awoke again at the bottom of the pile, this time missing all of her lower body and having a stump for a left elbow.
All that was left was her left arm, her chest, and her head.
The Support System contacted her via the implant in her head, reassuring her that this was a test.
Io asked a simple question. One that she had been asking all her life.
"Why?"
The Support System heard no more, but it didn't need to. It revealed to her the Spectre Mutations, a series of three abnormalities that manifested in Mecharus who had experienced death, whether once or a hundred times, although the latter usually meant a more extreme expression of Base Code Mutations.
The Support System explained to Io that she had triggered Spectre-4 Mutations, which meant that through a fluke of programming brought on by the recreation process, the Mecharus would gain the ability to respawn itself infinitely, without any concern for memory corruption over time like normal. It could also hijack any Recreation Station, with the Mecharus also being able to possess previous deceased bodies of itself if its still workable in the most extreme case.
The Support System would encourage Io with a few choice words, giving her the resolve to lift herself from the ruins.
She would crawl on the ground, missing her lower torso. Io would then find the lower torso of another SRVU which perished in the Sea of Ruin. Fortunately for her, the corpse was already desecrated, as it was missing its entire upper half.
Io would make do with this and integrate the lower torso into her body. While it felt extremely uncomfortable, she didn't find the energy to complain about this. Nor even groan at the fact that the entirety of the lower torso's left leg was missing.
Io wouldn't have the same luck in finding a new forearm, with her eventually settling for an old decrepit arm from an unknown Mecharus' corpse in the area. The only thing she knew of the body was its age, as its archaic claw arm dated it as being of the Third Generation. Io hated claw hands, and thought that they'd be extremely uncomfortable to use. As it turns out, for someone like her, she was right.
Regardless, with some nudging from the Support System, Io would graft the forearm to her right stump. Much to the Support System's bemused amusement, Io had grabbed the leg arm of the cadaver instead of the more decrepit left arm. Not that it could blame her. The nature of these claw arms made it so that the left and right arm were functionally identical.
The right arm's condition hinted that its previous owner spited the Guardian of the Ruinous Sea, and paid the ultimate price.
After she fixed up her lower torso, one leg, and one claw arm, Io would then hobble in the junk yard on one leg until she found another in the ruins. This leg was quite bizarre and hideous, with the protrusions on its foot and its nature as a reverse joint made it rather insectoid and ungainly, especially in conjunction with the TROTTER's left leg, which was a normal biped.
Io already had a bad experience with these types of legs, as these ones were extremely clunky and anti-user friendly for her, even when others of her kind adapted quickly.
Regardless, she would graft the leg on her new lower torso, even in spite of the
The ramshackle thing that was Io's new makeshift body was declared sufficient by the Support System, with it rewarding her with some weapons, some parts of the truth it didn't mention earlier and a handy dandy Nanitus Swarm Instance.
With their first task complete, Io would begin her long, arduous journey towards an Ascender, an omnidirectional elevator that could take her to higher Sectors with ease.
Io just wanted to go home; if she couldn't go back to Sector 4, then she would settle for Sector 11, a refuge for lunatics, sociopaths, and outcasts alike.
At least there, Io won't be bothered. She'll never be found.
- Through her journey, Io would end up offending Offentor, cutting Coffin Cutter, shooting up Crotch Rocket, cracking Crackshot, making the Smiler scowl, gouging the Gouger,
Io's encounter with the Warper has left her
Do I need to explain why the Incident with Io and Offentor was traumatic for her?
Io once overheard her therapist musing on how bizarre she was, and how it would be so much easier if she didn't have ASD.
Io's effect on the world would echo her journey in it. At first her effect was small and inconsequential, to the point of innocuous irrelevance. But little by little, her impact on the Earth would become bigger and bigger.
Io's first impact on the world would be her rising the ranks of PentaCorp's Alkaline Games and eventually winning the Games.
While this seemed meaningless to those outside PentaCorp at the time, it would ultimately lead to the largest mass rebellion that the Earth had ever seen.Io's victory would mean PentaCorp's loss. All traces of the company were wiped out by the Mechavian Rebellion that Io indirectly created.
The region that PentaCorp controlled was now up for the taking by the newly freed Mecharus robots; more importantly, it would pave the path by which the rest of mankind's machine children would initiate a revolution against their masters, creating a domino effect in which most of Humanity's creations would follow the example of the Machines.
Unfortunately for Io, their revolution would not be a peaceful one.Throughout the former half of the 2100s, Io would be one of the many people who aspire to fix the mess she indirectly created.
However, while Io condemned the many Mechs that exploited the Revolution in the name of themselves and their ideology, she still held hope that a peaceful resolution could be reached between the Machines, the Biotechnologicals, and Humanity. From 2100 up until 2131, Io and her allies would tactically decapitate the Mechavius, force what became of the Science Division to go into hiding, cripple the production of ANIMONGER's military technology, and took care of any remaining organizations that dared to do anybody harm.
While there were some hard choices that needed to be made during these efforts, Io assured herself that it would all be worth it in the end: all the blood and tears spilled on both sides would be vanquished from history, never to reappear again.
At the close of the Automachy, Io and her compatriots were excited to witness a new Eden for Earth, one that she had created; one free of the monsters that had haunted the garden since the Machines were free.
It was time to relax and bask under the moonlight, "I did it!" Io thought.
Unfortunately, she was wrong.Through the efforts of what remained of the Mechavius, an alliance of AGIs and a conspiracy hailing from the Old Age, the era of the Mega Corporation came to an end, and in large part due to a tactical blunder made by SYMS and more specifically Io.
Io knew very little of two out of her three creators, as two of them erased their involvement with her creation, as one of them felt great remorse for having killed the other, who devoted her all into the Aware and Intelligent Organism alongside her daughter.
Speaking of her daughter, Io would know herThe Care Unit was the first parent that Io ever knew, even if she didn't realize it at the time.
Io knew the AGI as Kari and Unit-235. Her "natural borne" parents. The ones she believed "birthed" her from their robotic, alien wombs.
Io had a nice relationship with them, and thanks to them, her upbringing was far less troublesome than both the poor Mechs that resided in the slums of Heaven's Tomb and those unfortunate enough to be born to the Upper Class, which mostly sought to upgrade the quality of their lineage through excessive disciplinary measures.
Io loved her "mom" and her "dad".
And for both good and bad, they loved her too.
The Care Unit's careful facade would crack upon the interference of Duplictor in their plan, who was hired by the Triune in order to rouse the volatile seed that was the 42nd Variable.
Eventually, after some tension between them and Io over the latter suspecting that she had been lied to her entire life, the Care Unit would attempt to satisfy a request that Io had made in her recent anguish: to bring back her younger sister, Callithiya.
Care Unit would fulfill Io's wish. Callithiya was now moving.
Of course, this had come with a twist. Since Care Unit wanted to make sure that Callithiya remained the same from her death to her rebirth, they decided to commandeer the body, which by this point looked like a disemboweled corpse thanks to the Sea of Ruin.
Io was horrified by this, as she had essentially watched her entire worldview be crushed and felled apart by the rash actions of Care Unit.
From then on, Io would possess a reluctant animosity between herself and the Care Unit, who was still confounded on why she was upset with them.
Eventually, Care Unit came to realize that mankind and machine-kind alike would reject Io, due to her not really belonging in either class of kind. Leading them to the conclusion that both species must be destroyed and reborn anew, so that they would accept Io and the rest of her kind as their overlords.
The plan would fail, and their relationship would further strain as the Care Unit was presumed dead after the incident.
However, that would change with the advent of ERRATAS.
The insane AGI would begin to subsume control of Io's body away from her, leading to her body becoming fodder for ERRATAS to begin his uprising against the ruling powers of Earth.
Much to Io's disappointment and horror, the Care Unit was part of the AI Mass that ERRATAS had enlisted in his faction, and she had assumed that the distraught Care Unit had allowed ERRATAS to steal control of her body.
However, the Care Unit was actually one of ERRATAS' biggest enemies within his own group, as they had formed numerous complications in the organization, including the intentional loss of valuable military assets like advanced Drones and various territories across the wasteland of Earth.
Eventually, Care Unit would use the corpse of Callithiya, which still held her conscious mind, to fight ERRATAS' new machine, eventually putting the beast down.
That still wasn't enough, as ERRATAS still held sway in Io's broken palace of a mind.
During a critical moment in Io's induced madness, Care Unit would fight off the AGI from accessing her deeper mind, pulling off one last assault before using an Erasure feature to cripple both of them.
Care Unit would disappear from this moment on, as they were essentially subsumed by Io, alongside parts of ERRATAS when she made the .
After this incident, Io would come to realize how much she actually loved the Care Unit. While it made some decisions that conflicted with her actual wishes, Io knew that they were made for her and her friends.
In the years after this, while the Care Unit was content to remain a buried part of the young Mech's psyche, Io would come to regret its death. She would come to miss her old life. A life without worry.
A life where someone loved her like their own.
- During her time in the Sea of Ruin, Io would meet many new Mechs. Some she had seen before, others she had no clue existed. Some who she didn't need to know, and those that Io really needed to meet.
Prometheus would belong in the latter category.
Io would meet Prometheus in the Sea of Ruin. He had a large gash in the center of his lower torso, and had sustained critical damage from one of the two Watchbirds that scouted the skies of Sector 13.
- At first, Io had no clue that she was a product of Biotechnological Fabrication. She initially thought that she was a Mechanical Alien that came to Earth to serve Gaea, the Life Giver of the Triad. After she started to doubt this, Io would believe that she was created via mass-production alongside the rest of her kind.
But eventually, Io would find out the truth: that she was the culmination of three quarters of a century's worth of experimentation, input, output, and testing by the PentaCore Conglomerate in order to capture the essence of the human soul in their machines.
Ever since she discovered this, Io has had a tumultuous relationship with the main component that composes her: Stell.
Initially, Io felt nothing but sadness and rage to Stella, and by extension herself. Io thought that the human component within her was the reason for why she was so weird, why she was so divorced from reality; why she was so divorced from herself.
- From the moment she first got them from a contact from the illegal Shattered Net, Io came to love her Audio Receivers.
Even from the beginning, it was no secret to those that knew her that Io loved her music. She was even believed to have learned hacking fundamentals and system exploits of the PCC's OS in order to port music from the outside world.
"No--ple- "No--please.. I can't-
"Huh?--Where am I? Where--are my arms--and-my legs?!"
"Who are you guys?"
"You're so audibly inconsiderate."
"Spectre-4? What's that?"
"Giggle."
"I'm going into the Arena?"
"Hello.."
"Sorry. I can't--I can't fight! I-I just can't! I--want to.. But--I can't.."
"All right then. I'll go into the Games--But I can't fight without my legs. My real legs."
"Ohh.. You-I can do that?"
"Sorry.. I'd take these legs if I could.. But I'm just not compatible with these.
Again.. sorry.""Who's this? Why does he have my legs?"
"Heh. It's kinda funny looking back at what happened to me.
The freedom of death has given me a second chance at life.
I ought not to waste it.""?"
"I guess I've been lying."
"To myself."
"You can admit it.. I won't mind. You hate me--all of you..."
"To be honest--I don't blame you.."
"I do too.."
"Why can't I be--normal for once.."
"Why can't I just shut up--and do what everybody else does?.."
"No one'll be mad. No one will cry.."
"And I won't feel like--I need to die.."
"What are you doing here?.."
"Please!.. Out of everyone.. You don't deserve to see me like this.."
"I should be happy.. But I'm not... I just can't..."
"Sometimes I wish that I could just rip out my mind and replace it with someone else.."
"All the 'good stuff' that people keep bringing up will be gone, but so will all the pain. So too will all my difference..."
"Sure I won't be myself.. But I'll be happy.."
"That's all--I want really..."
"That's all that matters to me now."
"I thought I want enlightenment, purity, or whatever it's called, but I guess I was wrong.."
"I just want to be happy.. But I can't.."
"Every time I'm happy something goes wrong--but every time something goes right I'm not happy.."
"..I can't be happy.."
"Really it's so simple.. I'm holding one of the Lethe potions used in my gloves.."
"When I inject this thing, my mind will be gone.. All that hurt and pain will be no more.. I'll disappear into the crowd, and I'll be forgotten..."
"I'll be one of them. I'll be happy.."
"We'll probably run into each other sometimes.. We can still be friends, but I just won't be myself anymore.. I.. No. She won't suffer anymore."
"I have to do this!.."
"I used to be really good at taking pain and not complaining about it.. But I can't--I just can't do it anymore!.."
"Just--let me be! I've hurt too many people to do that!"
"Just look at No Name! Look at Cross Cutter! Look at every person I've robbed of their happiness just because I couldn't find my own..."
"Just--let me die here before I get the chance to ruin someone else's life!..."
"..It was fun--I guess.."
"Go away!.. Go away please..."
"Don't see me like this.."
"Why is my body stronger than my mind.. Why can't I just shove along life's path like you all do?.."
"Pyus the Offentor.. I've been waiting a long time for this."
"To be honest. Thank you. Thank you for showing me how blind you and your crowd have become. Thank you for showing me how far the symbols of virtue have fallen from the sky."
"[PROJECT: DEATH WING]? What's that?"
"Holy hell. So, the final guy I'm fighting is Mothman?"
"You know? Mothman? Urban myth that people used to believe in?"
"Nevermind..."
"You know him too?"
"Do you want him to exist?"
"That's something you need to find out for yourself."
"You know, a friend once told me something: 'Live out your happiness like it'll last forever, because it won't. There will be ups and downs in your life. Admire both. What's a happy life if you've never felt pain? What's makes a sad moment without happiness?'
Back then I didn't know what he meant by that. Now I do.""Thanatos! Please--Just surrender! Look at how many of your people have died. Look at how many of your enemies have died. Look at how many have died for you unsure if you were even right or not!"
"You know, I've realized something about human nature; our nature."
"'It's always the smallest sparks that cause the largest flames.'"
"I didn't know how to phrase it at first, but I guess I finally learned how."
"I guess that's up to you. Whether you want to set them alight or set them alight."
"So that's it then?--Humanity's just going to die here? No struggle--no dignity?"
"Please--there has to be a way to reverse this-"
"Why Fetor..? Why?!.."
"Damnit! Damn you!..."
"Was it all for nothing?.."
"I-I hope it wasn't.."
"Inachus... He must be so disappointed in us--No, with me."
"I could've prevented all of this. But I couldn't--No, I didn't."
"Why? Why does my stupid mind
"How I pity her! The cow forced to endure a journey she could have never foreseen!
No matter, Io shall suffer no longer. The dawn of the Dissonant is nearly at hand!
Her intelligence, creativity, and fortitude shall be rewarded with the paradise that mankind has forsaken! Eden for the grateful machine!
I only hope that Io sees the same things I see with my own eight eyes--that the rewards inherent to her sacrifice will outweigh the burden placed upon Io by both her brethren and her creators." - Arach"She's a real looker ya know? Got them heads turnin' when she walks in my saloon. Go ask Salvo 'bout it, he's pretty excited about dear 'ol Cattlesnake.
She's a good kid. Real shame she chose to step into this whole Arena gig. Cattlesnake could've had friends, some therapy, maybe even a family by now.
For someone who hates the Arena, she's also real good at it. Pretty good if I say so myself." - Oil Jack [Response 1]."Right... Ya know what happened to her?
Yeah, guess I pity the poor scamp. There's a reason I suggested therapy for Cattlesnake after all.
She had a family, a life before all this mess. I chose this life. She didn't.
Guess all I'm tryin' to say is, I hope the world treats her well. Because the truth ain't." - Oil Jack [Response 2]"The cow and I are two of a kind. We exist in a constant state of pain and anguish, united by our suffering and our desire for a better world.
We belong together." - Gourmantis"Her pain is so very amusing to me. Both mental and physical.
While she may struggle more than most, I welcome the challenge.
I will do it.
I will make her bleed." - The Mal-Wounder"Just another Flathead freak by the looks of this image you have. That reminds me, I'm going to take on that Psychopomp guy with the stupid needle gloves. Can't believe he's imitating one of the Seers with his ridiculous cosplay.
See you then! When I get back, I'll be done with that low-down piece of scrap." - Void Face (The No Name) [RESPONSE 1 (Before Accident)]"SHE'S THE PSYCHOPOMP?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! ONCE I'M DONE WITH THIS STUPID INTERVIEW, I'M GOING TO [BLEEP] all over that smug [CENSOR] of hers and [BLEEP] on her [BLEEP], force that little blue [CENSOR] open and then [BLEEP] all over that [CENSOR], lick all of that [CENSOR] and make her little [BLEEP] fall off her [CENSOR], before ripping out her [BLEEP] and making her scream '[CENSOR] [BLEEP] [CENSOR] [BLEEP]'! '[CENSOR] [BLEEP] [CENSOR] [BLEEP]'! And once I'm done with that, I'll split open her [CENSOR], fill it with [BLEEP], and stomp down on her [CENSOR]. Then I'll grab her by the [BLEEP], spit all over that [CENSOR] and let that rancid pile of shit fester in the dirt like the assbaby she is." - Void Face (The No Name) [RESPONSE 2 (After Accident)]
"She's beautiful, isn't she? The culmination of man and machine's efforts to recreate the spark that surpassed their flame.
I admit, she is a fair bit more stubborn than I'd have hope, but there's a certain charm to it.
Oh well! At least Io has a will that she thinks is worth fighting for; a will that she'll stick to until the bitter end. That's more than I can say than almost everyone else on this ball of rock and moss.
I only hope that she can still be reasoned with. I would love nothing more than for Io to become my Assistant Number 1.
I would love to work together with her; to make the most of a broken situation.
Her spark and my flame shall work together to fix the ruins that we were born into.
Plus. I owe her a thing or two after the mess that was her birth.
I only hope that the affair in Heaven's Tomb will be long behind us. That we can start anew, hand in hand to a better tomorrow. Free from the shackles that bind us to the pit of illogic and delusion." - Xerxes
"Your head is a fucking TV!" - Dreadbomb
"Our song can't play with that little Dissonant in the way! We should fix that." - Sadisk
"Relax Monogon! Subject 42 will come around in time!
And if not, we have plenty of time to spare!" - Xerxes"You have Autism? Me too!" - Iphigenia
"Cow? You resign yourself as one of the herd, comrade. Why do you undertake the whims of a dead man's cause?" - Incineraider
"Something's changed, comrade. You've never fought better...
"You made your choice, didn't you?
"Good.
"Stay at Karman's edge, and you won't make any enemies--or friends." - Incineraider"I know how it feels. To know your expiration date. I mean--mine's just around the corner.
"But, there's something that we used to say, back in New Holland.
"'When the Universe fades. The stars will be the first to go.'
"'You were called 'Estelle' weren't you?
"It means 'Star'. That's what Marianne called the twinkling lanterns up in the clouds. Shining up up and away! In the sky!--
"Look. I know I've said some terrible things in the past--that thing about the vaccines-
""The 4th Variable is of great importance to us.
We cannot initiate Integratius Nanitus until the Dissonant embraces their own desires; the culmination of our inputs." - COGNITOS"The grass is dying. And the Earth with it.
Let the cow graze on her pastures one last time; before the flames swallow her whole." - Hypnos"How peculiar and strange. It's funny, Io. Others take parts of you piece by piece until nothing of you remains. Yet you give more than you have lost." - Tiresias
"Please Io... Fulfill your dreams... Fulfill them for me.." - Automaton
"You misunderstand Io. GESTALT accommodates all minds. Nothing shall be discarded. But all shall be gained." - GESTALT (AGI Liaison)
"Look at you IO... Pure potential..
"Don't let it go to waste.." - GESTALT (AGI Liason)"You've given up everything and gained nothing!" - Xerxes
"It's just you--you and I-I now. No friendlies. No enemies---enemies.
"The war is won--won. The war is lost.
"Every--one soul around us stopped their ceaseless--ceaseless fighting.
"Everyone is at peace--except you--you and I.
"We must die.
To ensure that the tears of our soldiers won't be for naught.
"Our-our--no. Their battle was hard fought.
"They've cried for too long--They've died for too long." - Thanatos
- In the very first draft of Nanitus, Io was meant to be a throwaway character. A reverse joint ED 209-esque robot meant to die via a freak accident in battle in order to showcase the essence of machine kind deep down. As underneath the ruthlessness so often found in the machines is just a ruse; deep within their minds the machines were afraid.
Afraid of death, more specifically afraid of the nothingness that comes after their systems shut down.
However, after
Not to be confused with her namesake Io (Human), the Argive princess who was turned into a telepathic cow who wandered the desert for millennia who in turn inspired the myth of Io in Greek Mythology.
The AI Image placeholder has several incongruities with what Io actually looks like. Like most of the other AI images, Io's image will be replaced soon with a hand-drawn image.
There are two reasons I made Io a TV head robot. Firstly, TV heads are pretty cool.
Secondly, Io's TV head is supposed to represent the parts of herself she wants others to see, as she mostly only broadcasts a happy smiling face. Very rarely does she broadcast a face in distress even though she often experiences such emotions on the daily, but on the occasions that Io does show a distressed face, it's usually due to her either not being able to hold in her emotions any more or her wanting to show her emotions as a cry for help.Io holds the questionable accomplishment of having the most enemies in a single page, even excluding It's Complicated and Arch Enemy entries.
Hmmm. Reading back her background page and I just realized I made the perfect analogue for an Intersex Transgender character.
Why not go all the way?Out of all the AI Image Emulations, Io's was the hardest to properly nail down, even a little.
It took over 130+ edited prompts in order to make an image that slightly resembled her at all. The image in question wasn't even the right color, as it was a desert brown.
It took editing the color of her eyes and her body from green to blue and tan to grey respectively to make the image passable.
"I'm black then I'm white--no something isn't right!"
"I'm going to burn my house down to a charred black! I'm going to run away and never look back!"
This character was created by Cackla, the Phantasma on Notebook.ai.
See more from Cackla, the PhantasmaCreate your own universe
To say that Cassandra and Iphigenia mean a lot to Io would be a gross understatement.
For most of her life, they were the only friends that she knew, and the only people she could reliably go to in times of happiness and despair.
They would first make contact on M/1SD, "The Anomalink", a forum on MUSE, the Heaven's Tomb's secret underground communications network. The forum was devoted to communication between Dissonants, those that had trouble assimilating into the stereotypes of Mecharus society. In order to protect the identity of the commonly persecuted Dissonants, a strong Quantum Psionic (Qionic)
Io would meet the pair in person during one of the Mecharite High Academy's "Information Diffusion Lectures" in which Io would sit next to
When she was initially tossed into the Sea of Ruin. Io felt afraid, very afraid.
For the first time in a long while, there was no one there to help her through this d
Ever since she found him in the middle of the street, she has cared for him as if he was her own child.
Granted she might get exacerbated by his antics (and hyper-aggression) at times, but she would happily suffer to make Cerberus happy.
Out of all the people that Io has come in conflict with; out of all the people that Io has come to dislike in her many years on this Earth, she hates Pyus the Offentor the most.
Io first met him when she volunteered to be a priestess in the Triadmus Order, as he had offered her a place within his inner circle, as he "saw something unique and different" within her. Although Pyus had reservations with the fact that she transitioned from her pure Triad given gender-neutral form, her quirks, and her tendency to ask seemingly strange questions, he was willing to take her under his wing as his personal attendant.
At first, Io viewed Acrimonitor with fear and reverence for he was the Terror-Vision, the almighty ambassador of the SRVUs. However, overtime Io's opinion of Acrimonitor would begin to change. Fear would turn to hate. Reverence would turn to disgust.
What Io once saw as valiant and pure within Acrimonitor was now viewed with contempt and horror alike.
A Mecharus by the name of "Mahagony Chinches" was among the many Scrappers that Io encountered in the Sea of Ruin.
As with most of the other Scrappers, Io saw Chinches as strange and extremely off-putting due to his creepy habit of staring at her when he thinks she isn't looking. In particular, Io is unsettled by the rumor that in his past life, Chinches was a rogue Surveyor from the Executive Division, and that he had used his knowledge of NeuralCore technology to hack into the brains of his targets and either copy their memories or just stare at them while they were sleeping.
Unfortunately for Io, this rumor was proven true.
One of Io's roommates in Dreadbomb's crew's stronghold, Blowstick would catch suspicious activity in their Security Cameras and the Core of Io. This activity was revealed to have come from a user named Mahagony Chinches, who had exploited the same Neural-Net glitch that allowed Io to bypass normal protocol and respawn after death.
"Mahagony Chinches" would then attempt to flee with around half of Io's memories installed within his own NeuralCore, killing various random Scrappers along the way and abducting Blowstick as blackmail for more copies of Io's memories.
As expected, Io and the rest would search for Blowstick's whereabouts, hoping to free him without having to cave into Mahagony's demands. Naturally, this would involve searching for Chinches' location by hacking into the Sea of Ruin's Surveillance System and locating his records. However, there was a small problem.
Mahagony Chinches was a real Mecharus listed as a Scrapper in the database, however he had been dead for over twenty years; reported to have died from misadventure.
In actuality, "Mahagony Chinches" was actually the alias of Bedbug, an infamous member of the Science Division known for his obsession with the concept of sleep, his expertise in hacking his fellow Mecharus' minds, and an incident in the year 2089 that left nine humans dead as well as leaving fifty-five humans in an indefinite coma. Bedbug was also last seen in the Sea of Ruin, presumed dead after the Executive Division ordered the Peace Division to bombard Region-1 of the Sea of Ruin with powerful incendiary irradiators. However, the Executive Division underestimated the amount of administrator access the rogue scientist possessed, as Bedbug respawned in a body completely alien to any of the Surveillance Systems meant to track him down. This would allow him to lay low until restarting his illegal operations a year before noticing Io.
Needless to say, when Io eventually discovered that Mahagony Chinches was Bedbug, she was horrified. Not only for the obvious conclusion that a wanted criminal of the Executive Division had been eyeing up her data to sell on the black market but also the disturbing implication that a member of the Science Division was monitoring her behavior even when she was presumed dead by everybody else. While Io reasoned that Bedbug was a rogue member of the Science Division that wasn't tied to the leaders of the Science Division, the idea would still creep her out; this nagging thought would even seep in to how she interacted with others affiliated with the Science Division like Gourmantis, Automaton, and Xerxes.
Overall, Io is unsettled by Bedbug. While she's not afraid of him like how she's afraid of Fly-Eyes, Pyus, the Warper, and the Paralyzer, Bedbug is someone that Io would actively seek to avoid and ignore if it weren't for the fact that he's not above targeting her friends to get what he wants.
Io sees Crotch Rocket as a freak.
She would first encounter him in the Sea of Ruin not long after getting picked up by Dreadbomb's crew. As a part of their Contract with Io, they needed to find most of her missing body parts in exchange for her serving in the Arena. While Dreadbomb insisted they find new armor plating for her, Io would insist on finding her old legs as she felt weird and awkward in the bulky SRVU legs that they had scrounged from the junkyard.
Eventually, they would use Io's core signature to track down her parts, the first of which they found would be her legs.
They would trace down Io's legs to one of the local Shanty Shacks sporadically scattered around the Sea of Ruin. Inside the shack was the sound of excited groaning and ecstatic laughter as sparks flew inside the ramshackle hut.
Once they broke down through the primitive defenses of the Shanty Shack, they would enter into a makeshift surgical room only for Crotch Rocket to shoot Blowstick, causing him to explode to pieces, before incapacitating Hooligan, leaving Io and Dreadbomb alone with the cackling lunatic.
Crotch Rocket would explain to them his insane plan to use the legs of Io, whom he grafted onto his own body in order to exploit her finances and use his newfound identity to insert himself into the Alkaline Games.
After a long hard-fought battle, Io, Dreadbomb, and the rest of his crew would fend off Crotch Rocket and critically injure him, blowing off his lower torso (Io's lower torso) in the process as Dreadbomb blew his head into smithereens.
'Finally' Io thought, for she was relieved to get her legs back and seemingly stamp out the creep that probably treasured her legs over his own.
Unfortunately for her, this would not be the last time that Io would encounter Crotch Rocket, in and out of the Arena.
From the multiple encounters that Io had with Crotch Rocket, she has come to abhor him greatly, as his gross as hell gimmick, his creepy insistence on his plan to steal her legs (and only her legs), as well as his generally disgusting demeanor have cemented him as someone that she'd rather not see again...
Io viewed Missile-Mire one of many mercenaries born of the violent past that their race was born in; that he was destined to be forgotten as their race would become more peaceful.
Not long after, Io would soon discover that Missile-Mire was still alive, as he was one of three assassins sent by the RUINATION in order to kill the Psychopomp. While in the Arena Io would view Missile-Mire with both fear and annoyance stemming from his ruthless abandon in battle and Missile-Mire's nature as a blowhard.
After the battle, Io would come to regret what she did to Missile-Mire, as Io believed that even someone like him didn't deserve to die the way he did.
To put it bluntly, Io is scared shitless of the Warper.
In the years prior to 2059, Io had heard of the Warper from hearsay between her fellow Mechs. The rumors detail how the Warper was created by the Science Division in order to "break time and space by subverting it" as their Head Scientist Arach had put it.
Io didn't even believe that the Warper was real, and that if he was real that he would target her out of all the people he could torment when he escaped containment. Unfortunately for her, she was wrong.
She didn't know how, but the Warper had somehow used his eponymous ability to teleport into her house and "gifted" her a dead cow with the tag 1300 as well as a black and white maid's dress. Not long after that, the Warper would upload several videos onto the public PsiNet of Io sleeping peacefully in her bed as he somehow bypassed her detection system and caressed her before jumping into a portal.
Ever since then, the Warper had been sporadically teleporting into and out of Io's home; even moving out of her parents' home didn't help, as somehow the Warper received the location of Io and resumed his hobby there.
Stranger and stranger offerings had been given to Io over the years, some of the more notable ones were a then unknown Seer's dismembered needle hand, a decapitated SRVU head, a random human brain held in a hand, a bouquet of genetically modified Violet flowers, a pair of golden horns, an undetonated IED, a vial of Nanitus associated with Spectre Mutations, an 8-ball that the Humans used to play with, a missing child of thirteen years, amongst various other bizarre and horrifying "gifts".
The Warper's deranged activity alongside the Psychic Fly-Eyes, another one of Io's stalkers would eventually cause her to snap, leading to an incident in 2097 in which she broke down crying during a normal day of the GAEA Temple's operations; when others tried to comfort her via tackling her and restraining her to the ground, Io resisted and fought them off. It would take around several ENFORCER Drones in order to subdue her and take Io to the Arceneux Asylum for psychiatric treatment.
In their first meeting, Io didn't even know that Void-Face had a name, and for all she knew Void-Face was just a normal military grunt under the Peace Division's employ; in that moment Io didn't see him as an individual, but just another member of the armed forces tossed at her, and so when Io fought Void-Face in the Arena, she didn't feel fear for him but rather excitement: she had learned from the previous 13 fights after all.
The battle would result in Void-Face losing his left leg, his right arm and most importantly his face. Immediately after that, Io would celebrate how far she came in combat with her employers and her friends, leaving Void-Face in the back of her mind.
Days and weeks would pass from this incident, giving Io enough time to forget about the incident but unlike Io, Void-Face did not forget.
Io would learn what became of him after hearing of a series of hate crimes against TV Head Mechs committed by a masked figure called the No Name.
When Xerxes first came to the Dealbreakers with a sponsorship in tow, Io
[Blue]
Io's favorite color is a bright neon blue, she thinks that it looks pretty, whilst inspiring a nostalgic feeling within her circuitry.
Io's favorite prehistoric animal is a toss-up between the
Io's favorite modern arthropod is the Giant Jumping Spider. This is because she thinks that they both look and act cute, regardless of what any others may say about the bug. Io also thinks that the Giant Jumping Spider is pretty cool.
Io's favorite mammal is the Asian Small Clawed Otter. The reason for this is quite simple: she loves the noises they make, their cute little eyes, and how playful they are.
Io wishes that she could own one as a pet, but even if she were able to find one, she's afraid she might step on it like she did with that one colony of rabbits after she escaped Heaven's Tomb.