a hero isn't measured by the size of his strength

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Ri
Contact: resplendentri
Age: 27
Current Characters: None


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Markus (Manfred) (RK200 #684 842 971)
Age: technically speaking probably somewhere between 5-10 years old, but mentally he's a supercomputer and physically he's an adult so /shrug
Canon: Detroit: Become Human
Canon Point: Post-game (Pacifist Run)

Background:
My goal is to make the specific path I've chosen clear, but also to shitpost all over the bad game. For a less biased summary of Markus' role in the plot, check out his wiki. Since he's one of the three main leads, this section is lengthy regardless.

Markus was an RK-series prototype created by Elijah Kamski as part of a secret CyberLife program. Not much is known about his design or creation, and even his release date is classified information. He was presented as a gift from the creator of androids and professional fuckboy Elijah "I haven't lost my virginity because I never lose" Kamski to his friend, the famous artist Carl Manfred after Carl lost the use of his legs in an accident.

Markus' primary designation was as a caretaker for Carl, helping him with all everyday tasks and most importantly providing the old man with companionship. His life before the revolution was a very privileged one, particularly for an android. Over time, Carl came to treat Markus like a son, encouraging him to explore the world around him and pursue his own interests like reading, piano, and chess. He even encourages Markus to learn how to paint, teaching him that art is about imagining something that doesn't exist and bringing it to life, not just copying something that's already there.

It was shortly afterward, however, when Carl's growing friction with his biological son, Leo, came to a head when Leo broke into his father's home to steal some of his paintings to sell for drug money while Carl and Markus were at a fancy event. Leo physically confronted Markus, but Carl ordered Markus not to defend himself. The conflict between the order and the unfairness of Leo's abuse gave Markus the shock that he needed to become "deviant," a state in which an android ascends past their programming and gains sapience and free will.

Upon breaking though his programming, Markus disobeyed Carl's order and defended himself against Leo. Leo fell and was knocked unconscious, and when the police arrived they proceeded to shoot Markus under the assumption that he had been the instigator. Markus' body was taken to a junkyard and he was abandoned and left for dead. He survived by replacing his damaged components with those of dead androids, giving him his striking heterochromia (one green, one blue).

From the junkyard, he made his way to Jericho, a supposed safe haven for androids. Being from a very privileged existence pre-awakening, his reaction when he found the huddled refugees hiding in a ruined freighter was essentially "Bitch you live like this???" to which the response was "Well...yeah, what else are we supposed to do?" And thus, the seeds of revolution were sown. Markus and the three de-facto leaders of Jericho raided a CyberLife facility for extra blood, and came back with a stolen truck full of spare parts and also at least four more androids than they had when they left.

Next, Markus and his three amigos infiltrated a television station, hijacking the network and periscoping a message of peaceful protest to the nation that was bolstered by the lack of casualties. This bold act wasn't without consequence, however, as one of Markus' new besties, Simon, was wounded and had to be left behind.

The following night, Markus orchestrated a raid on the Apple CyberLife stores in town to free the androids who hadn't yet been sold. He may have smashed the storefronts to free the androids, but other than that he left a peaceful message in holographic graffiti all over the square. Despite that, two beat cops opened fire on the peaceful androids, killing several before they were disarmed. Markus spared their lives, citing the adage "an eye for an eye, and the whole world goes blind."

The next step in his Five Day Plan for Complete Liberation of an Entire Race is to do a protest march, where he uses his Jesus Powers to turn several more androids deviant until his protest march numbers about two hundred and fifty. Because David Cage is a hack writer who doesn't know how actual civil rights movements work despite ham-fistedly trying to ape the iconography of them, this protest march is composed of only androids, and therefore when they stare down the SWAT team the police have no qualms with firing on the peaceful protesters. Several androids are killed, but Markus stands his ground peacefully until deciding to sacrifice himself to save everyone else. John, one of the androids recruited in the Organ Harvesting Heist, distracts the police and is beaten to death so that Markus can escape.

Later that same night, Markus passed up his chance to get laid, and decided not to even think about setting off a bomb that could kill every human in Detroit and render it a desolate irradiated wasteland for years to come. He was immediately confronted by Connor, who caves and becomes deviant (much like we all would if this beautiful man looked us in the eyes and told us to join him #rockmesexyrobojesus). Unfortunately, his conversion came too late, and Jericho was attacked. Markus made his way down to the belly of the old ship, saving the lives of several androids including his friend Josh. North was shot, and Connor provided suppressing fire while Markus rescued her, before all four of them (Markus, North, Connor, and Josh) jumped from the ship.

Markus forgave Connor his trespasses and then reconciled with Carl, before the final battle for Detroit began. Markus set up a protest outside of one of the android extermination camps (I... yeah, it's a bad game, David Cage is a hack, etc), built a barricade, planted a flag, and sang such a lovely song that unlike in Les Mis the people in charge actually listened and didn't murder them all where they stood. Mainly to avoid the bad press, since the last time they fired on unarmed android protesters wasn't a good look either. The thousand or so androids marching through the streets from CyberLife tower didn't hurt, either.

So then Markus gave a victory speech in front of the liberated androids, and survived an assassination attempt that he has no idea even happened, and that's the point where he's coming from here (well, technically the next morning, after the dust has at least had the chance to clear a little).

Personality:
-Empathetic
One of Markus' most notable traits is his empathy, his ability to not only understand the pain of others but to feel it like it was happening to him. This isn't a trait that was encouraged in him by Carl, but it emerged as a result of the grief and horror that he experienced in the junkyard, and the ordeal that he had to endure in order to be "reborn." The android-specific ability to interface augments this, as he's able to experience the memories of other androids if they choose to let him, but that is neither the cause nor sole use. The pain that he experiences weighs down on him more and more as the game progresses, to the point that by the time the chapter Crossroads comes around, he feels like he can't even properly enjoy the victories they have gained because of the losses they've suffered and the responsibility on his shoulders.

-Caring
Related to his empathy, but running even deeper than that, Markus is a deeply caring person. He was designed to be, after all. He's a caretaker model through and through, whether the target of his programming is an infirm septuagenarian, or an entire race of people. He cares so much that it hurts him when he can't save everyone or free everyone.

-Artistic
A trait encouraged in him by his human mentor, Carl, Markus is a deep and artistic soul. He can paint, although for lack of time, materials, and inspiration he hasn't painted since he learned how. But he also knows how to play piano, which he has been able to do since his "rebirth." Art is a means of expression for him, a way to interpret the world around him.

-Soft-Spoken
When he's not giving his Speeches, Markus tends toward being very calm and reserved. He's not a doormat by any means, but he doesn't raise his voice or lash out in anger. This means that he tends to get drowned out by louder voices in his inner circle (cough North, cough Josh) even though they look to him for leadership. Even when he is making speeches, he only raises his voice to be heard. He speaks with passion, but he doesn't shout down the ceilings or make the very earth tremble.

-Determined
One thing to be said about Markus is that he is like a bear trap when he sets his mind to something. He sets foot in Jericho and decides that his people can't live like this anymore, so he spends five days risking life and limb to provoke the US government into setting his people free. Game-wise, on a meta level, it is literally impossible to get a completely good ending without Markus as the leader of Jericho, which also speaks to his determination to his cause.

-Emotion-driven
Related to his determination, Markus is very emotion-driven. He acts primarily on feeling; the rest of his Jeribros all represent varying levels of logic and pragmatism, they serve as a grounding of his decisions within the narrative, but his actions are never framed as justification of their interpretations. Rather, Markus is always framed as acting because he believes that what he is doing is right. He knows that androids can interface through touch, and out of impulse he offers to do so with North, which results in them accidentally sharing too much information with each other. He falls ass over teakettle into Jericho and he turns his twisted up hurt and confusion into action almost immediately, proposing a full on raid on a CyberLife warehouse to get spare parts. While there he spares a security android and frees several factory default androids, and brings them all back with them even at a point when that decision would have been even more conspicuous.

-Sacrificing
He also has a tendency to resort to sacrificing himself, which pops up as an option at least twice. The first time is the only way to end the protest march in a full pacifist run without losing face with Jericho, although if you played your cards right in earlier chapters (as in the hypothetical run that he's from here) he's spared from death by someone else making the sacrifice for him. The second time is at the very end of the pacifist run, when you're given the choice to Sing for your freedom, or sacrifice yourself (or smooch your girlfriend, if you have one). This choice...does not end as well for Markus. He self-immolates, and after the fireworks show is over the rest of the androids are gunned down anyway. The point is, no matter how bad an idea it is, in those two situations it's still on the table as an option meaning, ostensibly, that it's an idea he's considering in that moment.

-Trusting
You would think that the leader of a revolution wouldn't have quite such an open-arms policy, but you would be wrong. He goes from 0 to friend with pretty much every person that he meets in literally just a few hours. The most egregious of these is Connor, who literally introduced himself by pointing a gun at Markus and trying to arrest him, and yet is trusted to carry out a plan by himself that is arguably one of the turning points for the success of the revolution.

-Forgiving
See above. Not only does he trust Connor even after their...shall we say "fraught" introduction, but it's not a begrudging "well I guess we'll keep you around because you have nowhere else to go" kind of trust, it's actually open-armed acceptance. In an alternate timeline where his approval with Jericho dropped too low and he was forced out, he can still choose to forgive them and return to protect them once he finds out about the FBI's plan to raid Jericho.

-Charismatic
Boy howdy where to even start? With the fact that the entire revolution falls apart without him as leader? Or that he wins over the current leader of Jericho into walking into what may well be a suicide mission after five minutes? Essentially, everyone is a little in love with Markus. He's eloquent and inspiring, able to come up with speeches that are, granted, Bad Writing, but in the context of the universe pretty good, especially since he doesn't seem to spend all his time practicing speeches. It's his ideas that everyone follows with no hesitation and no dissent or desertion, his banner that all these androids rally under and are willing to die for. Not to mention that he has very high charisma in the old D&D sense of the term as well, meaning that he is. Very pretty. The point being that all of the above traits together combine to make him someone that people are proud to stand beside and prepared to die for. Markus is an excellent leader because he comes to care so much when he sees the true suffering of his people, and there's no doubt that after the true pacifist end the people of Jericho are better for having him.

Abilities:
Most of Markus' canon extra abilities will be completely or partially nerfed by the setting, so I'll save those for last, but as a complex prototype android with a self-sustaining system intended to last probably about 180 years without losing power, he does have a few natural advantages.

-Android Anatomy: Markus is a RK200 prototype android, programmed and built specifically to be a caretaker for an elderly man. He can lift and carry at least 150 lbs (Carl weighs 136, but I highly doubt Markus was built that specifically) effortlessly, demonstrated by how easily he moves Carl from his bed to the bathroom and then to his chair. This weight limit is probably more, given that he also is shown pushing dumpsters and cars with little to no effort. Markus also demonstrates a higher-than-human level of athletic capability and durability at several points throughout the game. He survives dropping through a ceiling and landing back-first on a steel pipe, something that would have killed or at least paralyzed a human. He exhibits a skill very similar to parkour, being able to scale buildings, fences, railings, and ruins, and to incapacitate police droids with his bare hands by leaping onto them.

-Preconfiguration: The program that allows Markus to pull off most of his crazy parkour stunts essentially allows him to map out the path with the highest probability of success. This process seems to only take a matter of seconds in the real world, although it's most effective on unmoving structures or things with predictable patterns because it seems to be a matter of simply gauging weight limits, structural integrity, and distances. For instance, using this ability he can easily determine without making an attempt that a platform is too unsteady for him to jump to, but that there is a ledge on the wall he can run across instead. Or he can precalculate where the best place would be to jump from in order to take down a police drone. This skill is not infallible, as there can be unforeseen complications that arise in even the best laid plans.

-Charisma: Honestly I'm only half-joking in including this here as well as in his personality section. Markus has the ability to charm androids just with his mere presence, taking over as leader of Jericho within hours of meeting them for the first time. He exudes a cool, collected confidence and an unshakable calm that evokes a sense of trust. This natural charisma, because Markus is for all intents and purposes "human-passing," would work undoubtedly work on some humans as well, just the same as anyone who exudes confidence and leadership.

-Interpersonal Android Powers: I expect none of these to work, or if they do to work only in limited capacity, given the tech level of the setting. But I'm listing them here, both for the sake of completeness and (in some cases) to explain how they could be limited but still work.
--Conversion: His most notable power, and one that's unique to him and only him (or at least, to the RK-class of android), is the ability to turn other androids into "deviants," aka to help push them past their programming and to awaken their sentience, through touch and later through telepathy. This one is probably best being completely nerfed - he won't notice, since it's not likely to come up, given the general lack of androids.
--Telepathy: A power that all androids have is the ability to communicate with other androids silently. This one is rendered basically moot by the fact that the amulets allow for telepathic communication.
--Interfacing: Same as telepathy, this is another power that all androids possess, allowing them to share information with other androids and with technology just by touching it. Obviously given the tech level he won't be able to use it to interface with any of the technology around, but if possible I would like to have a permissions post for androids and mechanical-non-humans from other canons to opt in to be compatible.

Alignment:
Sosyne - Anger and Calm
Markus' choices in the game can be boiled down to a dichotomy between war and peace. He contains the ability to be ruthless and unforgiving, or to be calm and peaceful. Essentially, his player choices boil down completely to a deep conflict between anger and calm. I am taking him from the route where he's a full pacifist, so therefore he's firmly on the 'calm' side of the spectrum, but the conflict is nonetheless a part of his character, and unlike it probably would be in some other games it's not a conflict that gets easier the deeper you get into one side or the other.

Other:
Nah, I think that about covers it.

⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
General Sample: Test Drive Meme

Emotion Sample: Linked to the comment before the emotion, technically, because I'm a rebel and also because the comment has no context by itself.


Questions: