Empatheias Application

[9yes]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Panda
Contact: --- on Discord
Age: 27
Current Characters: N/A


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: 9S
Age: 2-3
Canon: Nier: Automata
Canon Point: After Ending E

Background: 9S' Wiki

Personality:
9S is a bright and curious YoRHa android who loves helping people and has an opinion about everything. He's is one of those people who you could say listens to his heart and his feelings before even consulting his logic -- which is a pretty amazing (and often dangerous) feat for an android.

Much like a child, 9S wants to know everything, like why nature is the way it is, why the machines in his world are behaving human-like, or why his commander seems to be acting very secretive... If 9S sees a loose thread, he'll follow it to the source regardless of the consequences. While this quality makes him especially efficient in discovering any kind of information there is to discover, it's also his greatest downfall. By merely existing, 9S is both YoRHa's data-gathering trump card, as well as a threat to YoRHa itself because of his tendency to access illegal information. As a result, 9S has been reset (killed) by his own organization plenty of times simply because he loves snooping around where he shouldn't.

During the events of Memory Thorn, a Nier: Automata novella, 9S is shown to be very much aware of his curiosity and even claims that he hates having it. But at the same time he knows it's not something he can help, as it is a part of his programming as a scanner model.

9S’ selflessness is also one of his biggest highlights. He may at times complain and gripe about the errands the Resistance and the Commander give him, but despite that, he carries through what’s needed of him and does a very thorough job -- something surprising, for someone who usually seems reluctant. This selflessness can simply be a part of his kind personality data, but it can also be because he genuinely wants to be accepted and liked by others. I believe the latter is valid because 9S is an attention-starved android whose loneliness is implied more than once in the game (eg. the in-game Novel describes him as feeling loneliness ever since his manufacturing.)

Then there’s the self-sacrificing part of 9S. As a soldier, 9S is very much aware that he is made to fight and protect (“We’re soldiers. We take pride in our service.”). So for him, going out of his way to protect someone is something he does without hesitation -- especially if he deeply cares about that someone. In the event of the game, 9S has saved 2B in many ways; he’s intercepted attacks aimed at her with his own body, he’s uploaded her consciousness data (essentially “saving” the current her), and he’s provided vital hacking support during her many battles. 9S' self-sacrificial ways have even gone as far as to single-handedly carry a giant warhead toward Grun, a giant machine no one could defeat, knowing very well that he could blow up as well.

While being both selfless and curious are a noble pursuit, they doesn’t discount 9S as being reckless in his own right. Many of the reasons that 9S dies through the story-line are either because of these two things.

As stated earlier, ever since his manufacturing, 9S has felt a profound sense of loneliness. While the real reason isn’t pinpointed, a few speculations are that it’s because he’s been killed and had his memories erased many times, or that YoRHa as a general rule frowns upon concepts such as friends or family, or that he carries out his missions alone, with nobody to keep him company. Whatever the reason is, he’s always trying to reach out to his fellow YoRHa units and make friends, even if he gets shut down by them the majority of the time. When first paired with 2B during the Prologue, he excitedly tells her how glad he is that she’s there.

It’s likely because of this loneliness that 9S quickly becomes attached to someone and starts to depend on them emotionally. The memories he creates together with that someone become a part of who he is, enriching his life with meaning and giving him a purpose he can truly see -- a purpose beyond simply being an android soldier made to fight for humanity. “I am who I am because of 2B,” he says, during the darkest time of his life, “I have a reason to live, because of those memories.”

Even though he seems carefree and flighty at times, 9S doesn’t miss a single detail. Whether it’s an irregularity in someone’s expression or a strange request from the commander, 9S takes it and calculates it in the only way an advanced scanner can. He’s especially good at picking up tiny clues and putting them together to form a bigger picture. For example, following just a few subtle hints throughout the game, 9S learned fairly early on that 2B was assigned to him as his assassin. Still, despite that, he managed to hide it very well -- or simply refused to accept it it -- and still fought faithfully alongside her.

If you’re looking for modesty, you’re not going to find it in 9S. He has a high opinion of his model and even embraces the fact that that he lacks modesty. 9S is very forthcoming about his feelings toward something. If he finds something exciting, he says so. If he finds something boring, he says so. If he thinks carrying out errands for the Resistance are a pain in the butt, he’ll moan about it every step of the way. He’s the least person you’d expect to withhold his emotions -- but at least you’ll know he’s being honest and transparent.

9S is an optimist and considering he’s always out on the battlefield facing life and death situations, that’s really saying something. Instead of focusing on the grim aspect of things, he instead focuses on a brighter future in which there is no war and androids like him could do mundane human things, like shopping in the mall (with 2B), buying shirts (for 2B)...his optimism, to the right people, may be either endearing or annoying, or both!

The longer 9S lives and learns truths he isn’t supposed to learn, and experiences things he isn’t supposed to experience (read: YoRHa is a giant lie. Humans are already extinct and there is nothing to protect. 2B is dead. YoRHa are created to die. 2B is dead/) that optimism drops fast. And being the emotion-prone creature that he is, 9S will react like any person whose livelihood and reason for living has been stripped away from them: with grief, anger and a gradual path to self-destruction. We see this very clearly when 2B is killed right before his very eyes. After the loss of YoRHa and the extinction of mankind, 2B was the only thing keeping him afloat, so losing her took a massive toll on his mental and emotional well-being. He went from compassionate to kind, to bitter and ruthless, killing any enemy that got in his way and stopped paying attention to his own well-being.

For all of his good sides and flattering qualities, you’d think that 9S is the last person to harbor darkness in his heart, but that is definitely not the case. While outside 9S is simplistic and carefree, inside 9S is a tangle of negativity that harbors narcissistic feelings toward the world and everyone in it. “A vile hatred slumbers in the depths of your heart,” Adam, an enemy machine lifeform, looks into his consciousness data and points it out to him, “You do not trust anything. You want to destroy everything. You have lost hope in everything. You want to obtain everything. You want to be loved by all.” all of which 9S vehemently denies over and over, as if trying to convince himself.

It’s possible that after having been killed by 2B so many times, some inner part of him retained that knowledge from revival to revival. It’s heavily implied in the game that 9S is bitter over being killed so many times and feels wronged, no matter how well a facade he puts on the outside. Of course, it’s also possible that 9S is also in full denial of this darkness and simply chooses not to accept it as real. One thing’s for sure, though.

“You’re thinking about how much you want to [ k i l l ] 2B, aren’t you?”

When 9S is at one point surrounded by multiple 2B copies, we see a glimpse of that darkness take hold in 9S, in the way he hacks them to pieces. Whether he kills them as a way of getting back at the real 2B, or because he thinks they’re defacing her, the only thing we know is true is that his feelings toward 2B, no matter how twisted, will always be genuine.

The most important lesson we can learn from 9S is that, even if you start out bright-eyed and optimistic at the beginning, it doesn’t mean you’ll end up that way later on. The world will find a way to screw you over, whether it's through making you question your livelihood, revealing ugly and painful truths, or dangling what you love in front of you like a carrot on a string. How you react to these challenges is what truly defines your character, even if in the end you become the exact opposite of the person you started out as. 9S teaches us that we’re only about as human as the world around us is.

Pod 153
Pod 153 is a small floating robot assigned to 9S that accompanies him and serves as his sidekick. Unlike 9S, it is impartial and lacks (some) emotional capacity. It calculates situations logically and gives equally logical advice, making it a good match to an emotionally-inclined android like 9S. Pod speaks in a feminine but monotonous manner. Pod also uses the shortest and most efficient sentences when speaking, and refers to itself and others in 3rd person, avoiding "I" or "you". ("Report: Coordinates acquired. Marking on map. Proposal: proceed to location immediately." or "This pod is the support unit of YoRHa unit 9S.")

Since pods aren't built to process emotions like androids can, Pod only possesses academic knowledge of human concepts such as "love", "guilt", "fun" etc. and therefore considers them irrelevant to missions at hand. That said, Pod has been known to show genuine curiosity toward concepts it doesn't get. For example, when twins Devola and Popola chose to die together, it asked 9S why that was, when it was obvious that at least one of them could have escaped and survived. If anything, this implies that, while Pod does lack emotions, it doesn't lack the desire to understand these emotions.

Protecting its assigned unit (9S) is Pod's highest priority, and therefore it's the only time it will make less-than-logical decisions to try to preserve the safety of its assigned unit. When 9S confronted A2 with the intent to kill her, Pod, knowing that A2 was the strongest among them, quickly advised 9S against fighting her.

Near the end of the game, we learn that Pod programs actually do have the capacity to learn emotions, even if they're in the infantile stage of it. These 'emotions' Pod 153 begins to feel by then, which is to say the protective instincts it has developed for 9S, compel it to take the steps to try to revive him after he 'dies' the final time.

Like 9S and just about every artificial construct in the game, we learn that Pod 153 is more complex than it leads on. It's not certain whether Pod will continue to pursue emotional concepts, but what is certain is that it remains 9S' assigned unit for as long as they're both operational.

Abilities:
Physical abilities: 9S has a small, fuel efficient body which helps him cover a lot of ground and hide easily. However, this also means that 9S doesn't do very well in combat, especially not in close quarters. His body is built for dodging, not taking hits. But that said, 9S does have some combat functions, such as his trademark katana, Cruel Oath. He's fairly skilled with it but not the best, so any skilled swordsman can easily best him.

Scouting: Think of 9S as the scout class of androids. Back in his world, he was the unit you'd expect to sneak into enemy strongholds, gather intel, and/or secure a route and method of attack for the real combat team. In Empatheias, this set of skills may be useful in tracking certain persons or investigating foreign terrain.

Hacking: Scanner types like 9S are very very good at hacking machinery. This includes computers, hand-held devices, remote-controlled doors, etc. In most cases, he can even subjugate robots/machines (please note that 9S will not hack into any character or character's personal belongings unless the player has given me permission). Of course, the opposite could be true. 9S is pretty much a computer, and can be hacked himself.

Pod 153: Pod 153 is 9S' assigned support unit. Like the designation suggest, it helps him in combat by providing long-range fire or analyzing the enemy's weaknesses. Pod can also carry 9S through short distances, use itself as fishing gear, and mark special locations on 9S' map display (located in his visor). However, being smaller in size than 9S, Pod is less hardy than he is, and can be taken down easily.

Alignment: Daimonia -- Grief and Joy. (During the events of the game, 9S' life revolved around the grief of losing his memories with 2B, and the joy of being with her -- and it's these two opposite qualities that have shaped him to be who he is now.)

Other:
This might not be apparent throughout the app, but I want to clarify that YoRHa is an organization consisting of spacial androids created to fight enemies called 'machines' on the surface of the earth. The organization was created after the humans (supposedly) fled to the moon and wanted to create beings to fight on the surface of the earth in their stead.

Of course, this is a lie, and YoRHa was actually created by other androids after the humans went extinct. The existence of YoRHa perpetuated the lie that 'humans are living on the surface of the moon' in order to give other androids renewed hope. 9S is killed multiple times for illegally accessing the server and learning the true nature of YoRHa and the fate of the humans.


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉

General Sample: Test Drive

Emotion Sample:
[9S doesn't pretend to know what mourning is, but it doesn't stop him from trying even now. Carrying a bunch of white flowers, He kneels by a crude piece of rock (the gravestone) and gently sweeps aside some dead petals like one would the hair of a lover.]

... Hey, 2B. How's it going?

[He's wearing a smile; the same smile he wears and fails to get across whenever he visits the gravesite. It doesn't keep the grass surrounding the stone from shriveling, or the soil from turning to parched earth. And the more he sees those things happening, the more the knot in his stomach tightens, because he knows he's not okay.

Any person he's asked tells him that the pain of someone heals with time. But how much time? And can he even make that time? 9S isn't quite sure. The anger and grief swirling inside him are still clawing at his insides every day, wanting to be set free. 9S often thinks maybe he should let them. That maybe then his chest could stop hurting so much, and...

The earth around the stone begins to split, parts of it crumbling and causing the gravestone to sink awkwardly on one side. When 9S looks down at the flowers he's holding, he sees that they've turned into black, vine-like masses and are slithering up his arm. In his panic, 9S throws them aside and falls back on his bottom.

That's the 34th set of flowers now.]

Goddamn stupid awful useless--

[9S punches the ground in his frustration, once, twice, three times. Like the stone, the dead soil begins to spread around him as well. 9S watches it scathingly, then looks back at the gravesite and it gives him pause. His feelings are one thing, he thinks. But imposing them on 2B's memory like that just isn't fair. He knows she deserves better. 2B's always deserved better.

Taking a deep breath to pace himself, 9S sits back. He closes his eyes behind the visor and lapses into memory.]

Say, 2B? Remember that time I fell face-first in the sand? I mean, I didn't think it was fun back then, but...it was pretty funny. Come on, how'd you manage to keep from laughing?

[9S smiles nostalgically. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices some tiny white flowers beginnimg to grow around the gravestone. Bits of grass start to poke out as well. It's not enough, but it is simething. 9S chokes on a sob, or a laugh, he can't really tell. He stays in place a while longer to gather his bearings, then stands up, looking a little more sure of himself.]

I'll go get some more flowers. Just hold on until then.
Questions:N/A