IMAGER-1

General Info

This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race! (Involving hockey-playing robots.)

IMAGER is reserved, cultured, and easy-going on the surface, but is actually a highly resentful bot who wants nothing more than to see their 'enemies' fall. Originally, they were built with a somewhat rushed and bare-bones 'cool' personality module.

Before the module was installed, IMAGER had a text-to-speech voice that was realistic yet robotic enough to fall into the uncanny valley. Now, they are mute; they communicate via sign language or writing/typing.

Backstory

In the late 2000s, a reclusive Japanese tech company called ChikaraTech announced its presence, and claimed to be working on advanced robotics. Then in the good ol' year of 2010, they introduced their first robot, IMAGER-1, designed to be the best damn robot ever. (For 2010 standards, anyways.) The reveal of IMAGER caught the world by storm. This brand-new company had, in only a few years, created a fully sentient, lively robot that was good at playing one of the world's most demanding sports. How did ChikaraTech manage this?!

To tell you the truth, 'ChikaraTech' is actually a joint venture by the Maldedrom and Shizue. They created the corporation as a way to gently let Earth know about the Maldedrom, as the first time she tried to introduce herself went... badly. Also, she was feeling generous about sharing some tech! After IMAGER's reveal, ChikaraTech tried to negotiate with various teams to see if they could join them. After a bit of controversy, IMAGER managed to join the Shooting Stars, a small hockey team located in Billings, Montana. And thus began their career.

Over time, the public warmed up to IMAGER. As a result, they became a pretty big name in the world of hockey. To make things even better, Chikara were planning to improve upon their personality and make them more fleshed out - they were the first in Chitech's series of robots, after all. Things were going well for IMAGER until late 2013; that was when the Arms Race began. Gun'harand was curious as to the origins and employees of ChikaraTech, so they investigated. Upon finding out who ran it, they were livid! After calming down, Gun'ha had a really petty plan in mind.

They gathered Invictus' best scientists - many of whom were part of the crew working on the C-Worker project - as well as the High Five team for general input. There, they got to work on creating a better hockey-playing robot than IMAGER in many fields. It'd have a better personality, would be stronger and more agile, could think faster, and would have social media accounts to increase its popularity faster. Also, to appeal to the furries, it would have a cat-like face, ears, and a tail.

(You can probably guess the cultist who suggested that.)

Once it was finished, Sol Invictus - under one of their aliases, "The Matahari Group" - revealed their version of IMAGER in the spring of 2014, called Hydrangea. The Group managed to get her signed up to the rival team of the Shooting Stars, the Boise Fir Trees. The public reaction to Hydrangea was very mixed - she was obviously a ripoff of IMAGER, yet her advantages made her much better than them, too? A rivalry between the fans of the two starts up, and it was obvious that the two needed to face off in the rink.

And it happened. On November 7th, 2014, the Shooting Stars and the Fir Trees played against each other. And... the Stars lost, 3-5. This loss, as well as Hydrangea's (completely staged) behavior during the match, caused everyone to focus on her instead. While the match wasn't a crushing loss, ChikaraTech knew that IMAGER was getting outdated, and that it had to create an all-new version of IMAGER to compete with Hydrangea.

So even though they didn't want to, Chikara decided to retire IMAGER from the team in December, and replaced them with their alleged 'big bro' IMAGER-2. And so IMAGER-2 and Hydrangea fought it out in the rinks. But what about IMAGER-1? Well, Chikara did promise to improve on their personality, and so they did. Using a spare soul and goop that the Maldedrom had, ChiTech created a new personality module for the bot. Unfortunately, the module didn't play well with their voice chip, and ended up damaging it beyond repair.

After the module was installed, ChiTech gave IMAGER a base in Pennsylvania to live in, as they liked them too much to scrap. IMAGER pretended to thank them, but in reality, they were FURIOUS at the news - why couldn't they just put them in the new body and let them play hockey again?

Nowadays, IMAGER is trying to relax and soul search in their new home, but it's not working. In the back of their mind, they're coming up with plans to destroy Hydrangea, IMAGER-2, and maybe even those bastards at ChikaraTech...

Fun Facts

• Ever since they were retired, IMAGER has been using their old hockey stick as a 'cane' of sorts.
• The skates of IMAGER'S boots can retract into the back of their legs when they're not on the ice.
• At their estate, IMAGER is keeping a small chicken farm. So I guess they can be considered their favorite animal?
• They don't really have 'favorite colors' as they think having them is kinda pointless. But IMAGER does have a 'color combo that make them angry and rage like a bull'!
  • It's grey, cobalt blue, and faded red. Take a big, long guess why.
• Some non-hockey hobbies that IMAGER has taken up include farming, restoration, and Aikido. They're trying to find something to get good at, you see.
• So, why weren't they rejected from playing hockey due to their advantages over other players? Well, to cut a long story short, many sports were split into two leagues to accommodate for the larger and stronger alien races. (Sometimes, if a player is stronger or weaker than expected, they can be moved to the other league to make the sport more balanced.) IMAGER was put into the second league.
  • For future reference, the "David" League consists of humans, Mekirai, and early-stage Blyssians, and the "Goliath" League consists of late-stage Blyssians, Shadow People, and Star Gods.
• At the time, IMAGER was THE most advanced robot out there. Blyssia has some close competitors, but they're good in only a select few areas. IMAGER is good in many areas.
  • It's said that the exiled Star Gods have made bots that are far better than any of the hockey/ChikaraTech robots, but this is an unconfirmed rumor.
• Given that they were created by the Maldedrom for a specific purpose, and even has a blood tie to them via the module, would IMAGER technically be a Maldeclone? Hm...

Useless Stats

• Strength: 6
• Intelligence: 4 (7 w/ new module)
• Endurance: 8
• Speed: 7
• Charisma: 5 (8 w/ new module)
• Magic: 1
• Leadership: 8