Aria

Aria started their existence as an automaton, a mindless robot with no sense of self. Equipped with a simple AI, Aria’s function was to do maintenance work on orbiting objects such as satellites and space stations. In the eyes of the company that forged them, Aria (and the hundreds of thousands of other automatons) were disposable tools and nothing more. In fact, once a more effective and up to date automaton model came out, Aria was quickly discarded. They were abandoned in a junkyard and festered there for months.

That is, until they were hauled out from under a heap of junk by Miles, a PhD student in robotics. Once Aria was brought back to his lab, their AI was salvaged and developed so that Aria gained human-level intellect. Miles also painstakingly rebuilt their body using as many parts from their original form as possible. Aria was the culmination of Miles’s years of work. Many prototypes existed before them, all failed.

When Aria first awakened, the memories from years of being an automaton flooded their mind, but now they were able to actually create thoughts, not just store sensory input. In their newly sentient state, Aria immediately had an existential crisis over what it means to be alive and over what purpose they existed for.

During the first year of Aria’s new life, they were in a constant process of defining their identity. Slowly, with the help of Miles, Aria realized and accepted their personhood, regardless of anyone saying otherwise. They also started learning how to sing as a way to express themself, and when they felt comfortable enough they started sharing their music online.

Aria met Vivi, a cyborg, through a forum for artificial people in their city. The two of them quickly made friends. During this timespan, Aria also started itching to move out of Miles’s basement, as they wanted to experience more things and more people. To make enough money to move out and stay moved out, Aria signed up for a paid research study on human-passing artificial people. Vivi also joined in, and with the addition of one more roommate (Willow) they were able to afford a modest two-bed-one-bath apartment. Aria got the smaller room to themself.

During their time living on their own, Aria’s singing career started to pick up speed as the views and clicks increased on their uploads, and so they started getting booked to sing at venues, and soon enough they were scouted by a small label focusing on artificial musicians. At that point they were already relatively well known locally, and with their new contract their music started spreading even more.

Thanks to their newfound success, Aria was able to afford a better apartment, living on their own now. They did, however, help Miles move into their old apartment with Vivi and Willow, as he still lived with his abusive parents at that point, paying for his cut of rent, utilities, and food until he could sustain a job. Aria also got Vivi and Willow into singing. They tend to do their own thing as hobbyists, but will sometimes collaborate on some of Aria’s songs. Another collaborator that pops into Aria’s music once in a while is Misha, a fellow android and a singer signed onto the same label. Her and Aria are good friends.

Thanks to their platform, Aria was able to get more into activism. They were always passionate about fighting for the rights of artificial people, but now they had the reach to make a much bigger impact. A lot of their activism consists of fundraisers, charity concerts, awareness and informative videos and interviews, and sometimes even debates.

Nowadays, Aria can be found lounging in their apartment, surrounded by beautiful things. They’ll often have company over, whether it’s their close circle or other guests.